Shattered Dreams
by Smartasswalkin
Summary: Kumogakure, ruled by the Raikage and a tentative ally of Konoha's. A tale of brutal training, disgusting missions, hateful relationships, and deceitful partners. Will the Kumogakure Genin Team 8 be up to the challenge of life as shinobi or will they die?
1. Training Arc: Genin Suck

Shattered Dreams

_**Shattered Dreams**_

**Disclaimer - Naruto (The Manga and Anime) are copy righted to Masashi Kishimoto, not me. However, the following story is copy righted to me**

**Notes:** This is the newly EDITED, and revised version of this story, for the first ten chapters things have been subtly changed and improved (hopefully) after that it is all new. This story starts off about 6 months before the Manga. Since I don't explain what anyone looks like here it is;

Himiloh Izur - **Rank **Genin - **Age** 10 - **Height** 4'9 - **Weight **72 lbs - **Eyes** Blue/gray - **Hair** Short cut Black hair, His hair stands up around his head with a few spikes; most of it lays flat. - **Build** Skinny build with light muscle - **Clothes **He wears an outfit based off of Kumo ANBU, just different colors, two piece black outfit with the top being slightly longer then need be and the outfit being tight enough to 'hug' his skin. The armor covers chest/back, forearms, and shins. Instead of having the normal Kumo ANBU colors of gray and red he has gray and blue. The base color of the armor is gray, like the ANBU, but the secondary color for the swirls, spikes, and 'teeth marks' are blue instead of red - **Distinguishing Marks** None Momentarily - **Team** Kumogakure Genin Team 8

Fukazawa Leiko - **Rank** Genin - **Age** 12 -** Height** 5'2 - **Weight** 100 lbs - **Eyes** Blue/green - **Hair** Brown hair that stands strait up through grooming is glossy and when down flows to the middle of her back - **Build** Stronger muscle builds then most females - **Clothes** She wears a baggy outfit with her forehead protector on her forehead. Her shirt is a dark red with green and blue marks through it and her pants are a blue/red mixture, wears a black mesh underneath her shirt - **Distinguishing Marks** 'Tooth mark' like birth mark on her left hip - **Team** Kumogakues Genin Team 8

Oonishi Hachiro - **Rank** Genin - **Age** 12 -** Height** 5'2 - **Weight** 106 lbs - **Eyes** Emerald Green - **Hair** Bright Red hair, stands strait up, though still short - **Build** On the skinny side with a lack of muscle - **Clothes **Black jacket over a red shirt with black mesh underneath. Normal Shinobi black pants and sandals. Jacket has white swirls - **Distinguishing Marks **Has the Kanji for 'Roar' on his left cheek - **Team** Kumogakure Genin Team 8

Zetsumei Masaru - **Rank **Special Jounin - **Age** 29 - **Height** 6'4 - **Weight** 287 lbs - **Eyes** Hazel (Brown/Green) -** Hair **Mousy Brown hair, cut short and hangs flat on his head -** Build **Ridiculousy Muscular, yet lean on his tall form - **Clothes** One-piece black suit with a gray-red Jounin jacket over it. He has a Zanbatou that he wears on his black that has Kumogakure's traditional Gray and Red colors on it - **Distinguishing Marks **Scars on hands, scars on upper arms and left chest, long scar from chin to neck, scars on legs and feet -** Team **Sensei of Kumogakure Genin Team 8

**Chapter 1: Team 8 - Troubles on the forefront**

Himiloh Izur, child prodigy and commonly referred to as one of the most arrogant bastards Kumogakure had ever given birth to, the sole son and heir to the dangerous Kekkei Genkei of the Himiloh clan, for the moment.

The young boy of ten currently sat at the Kumogakure academy staring blithely at the walls in front of him. His mind was wandering about what his sensei would be like and maybe even all the neat missions he would get to go on now.

There were two other people in the room with him, both of them were two years older however and already hankering to shove there foots down his mouth, or other less pleasant places.

Fukazawa Leiko, a strong Kunoichi who had graduated at the normal rate but had a terrible temper for any one who was arrogant or disrespectful. She came from a well placed family, though they had no Kekkei Genkei their family normally turned out strong Chuunin and Jounin.

Oonishi Hachiro, a semi-interesting boy the same age as Rin who was only in the Shinobi profession because his family had forced him into it. His family was a well placed civilian version of Leiko's, but it was also massive. With Hachiro being the eighth son, they had needed an honorable profession to throw him into that he couldn't get into the way with. Three of his sisters and two brothers had also become shinobi as well.

That was the Academy Instructors viewpoint however, Izur's was more along these lines; Leiko - Bitch on constant period and Hachiro - Goof off who had an odd family. He had also, in his normal blunt specific way told them this.

It had not gone well; even though Hachiro had attempted to stop Leiko from doing it he'd received a fist, strait into his big mouth. Izur looked at them sighing again, as he jumped off the desk he had been sitting on, intending to pace around.

At that moment, however, a man using the Shunshin No Jutsu (Body Flicker Technique) appeared right in the center of the room.

He was tall, too tall to really be considered normal any more. The six foot four man was dressed in a Jounin outfit with a large Zanbatou strapped to his back his arms crossed as he surveyed the young Himiloh standing in front of him.

He turned his head and looked at the two behind him before sighing. _"I've been waiting for that damned kid to move for twenty minuets now. Gash! This is going to be a pain..."_ He put on a grin for the three kids to see, trying to take some of the advice that the Raikage had given him.

"I'm Zetsumei Masaru, your Jounin assigned to Team Two. I'd like to have all three of you introduce yourselves. Say a bit... yeh knows?" Leiko and Hachiro were giving him general half lidded eyed looks of only slight understanding.

Izur was lounging against a desk now, wondering how this guy had managed to sneak up on him so well. His stealth had been good, but he couldn't find a way to figure out how he'd done it or for how long.

"Ahh what do you mean Masaru-Sempai? Could you show us first?" Hachiro's slightly squeaky baritone voice came up.

Masaru looked at him with a look that just asked if the kid had enough brain power to breathe let alone breathe and think at the same time. "Ahh... for example your likes and dislikes. Hobbies, your name... Uhm strengths and weaknesses as well." Masaru didn't sound bored in fact he probably sounded entirely overly enthused about this whole thing.

Though that was always the problem, a single smile could disarm an opponent just as well as putting a Kunai through their temple. He grinned at them. "For Me, obviously you know my name. Likes... well resting and killing." He grinned at them all hoping for the right reaction.

He tapped his fingers on the desk for a moment before continuing. "I also like torturing people but not much else. Let's see... Dislikes then... Ahh in general people, overly talkative or arrogant people, people who just stand and do nothing, people who goof off, and disrespectful people. Overly respectful people..."

He paused in thought again tapping his side in thought again. "Well you get the idea. Uhm Hobbies... same as my likes really though I admit I do prefer to torture more... hmm Strengths and Weaknesses... well you'll see soon no need to verbally tell you." He grinned now; he'd seen the older boy... Hachiro had backed away slightly becoming paler.

The Kunoichi had a couple sweat drops but she was grinning a lot bigger then any of the three. As for the young arrogant bastard well he didn't look calm rather he seemed to be more lost in thought about something else.

He seemed to be trying to hide it but it was obvious that he felt fear by the fact that his hands had a slight shiver to them. _"Not so calm in the face of so much skill are you, Himiloh?"_ He grinned at them lifting his hand; all three of the newly graduated Academy Students flinched as he did so.

"I'm not going to do anything to you guys... yet." Another flinch and he grinned even more, making him look more and more like the predator he was. His hand was pointing at the Himiloh, "You first. Introduce yourself."

Izur glared at the guy now, angered by the amount of fear that he felt from this man. To him it was irrational, because one single person shouldn't cause this much emotion from anyone, or that was the tail of thought that Izur followed.

The temperature in these rooms was generally rather nice but it had dropped dramatically as soon as this man had started speaking to them. Izur cleared his throat slowly speaking, his tone a soft tenor that went well with his slight size.

"I'm Himiloh Izur. My likes are training and advancing along as a Shinobi. My Dislikes are Nukenin from Kumogakure and any other traitors that would speak badly about our country. My hobbies, much like Kazu-Senpais are the same as my likes. My strengths..." He paused now thinking; he didn't want the Jounin to know what his strengths were.

He wasn't sure why but his father had mentioned that he would face another test immediately after passing the test at the Academy. "Is Genjutsu techniques. In contrast my weakness is Taijutsu."

The boy lied, his tone seeming calm and cooled as he spoke. Kazu's eyebrow rose slightly at the boys words, and he grinned starting to turn his head to look at Rin, who had for some odd reason been standing in the middle. _"That boy graduated first in Taijutsu... and Gen... And Nin but he is in no way weak in his Taijutsu skills. So why the blatant lie?" _the girl started to speak in a rather more manly tone then he had been prepared for.

"I'm Fukazawa Leiko, I like a lot of things mainly training and beating the hell out of my male counterparts. I don't dislike anyone except arrogant bastards, as for Hobbies, that's training and cooking. My strengths are Taijutsu and my weakness is Genjutsu." Kazu nodded as he turned to look at Hachiro who was more visibly frightened from having all the attention on him then any of the others.

_"That girl won't be happy in any support positions, she didn't lie either... Lack of planning or is the Himiloh brat just a constant liar? Or maybe the brat knows something that he isn't sharing. Curious and more curious." _Hachiro swallowed again and drew back his head slightly before closing his eyes and speaking quickly.

"I… I'm called Oonishi Hachiro. I like games, watching battles, watching people, and sometimes training. I dislike training, most of the time, and my family and drama My hobbies are puzzle solving and drawing. My strengths are Ninjutsu and I guess my weakness would be weaponry..."

As Hachiro finished Masaru gave him a grin. Of the three he felt that while Hachiro may have been the most frightened he had also stretched him to give everyone the best picture of him. Masaru reached into his weapons pouch and pulled out three crumpled pieces of paper. Handing them all to Hachiro, he started speaking again. "Pass 'em down."

As the boy complied with what he was told Masaru stood up to his full height. It was time for some real fun.

"As you may not know none of you are Genin yet. All you managed to do was pass an exam to weed out useless freaks. Now you have to pass up the test I have come up with you. Your instructions on where to go and what to bring are on that. Good..."

He was interrupted by Izur who (if it was even possible) had managed to sound even more arrogant. "How many of us will pass, Masaru-Sempai."

Masaru stopped staring at the boy silently before chuckling and allowing the suppressed killing intent in his body to let loose for a minute. Time to really scare these kids. "All right... good question. Unlike in the other villages were nine Genin will pass to become Shinobi in Kumogakure only six people will pass here."

He didn't mention that you passed or failed as a team so it might be taken either way with that he gave a wave. "Don't be late... or you'll regret it." With that he disappeared in a flash using the Shunshin no Jutsu again.

Shrugging Izur turned and walked out leaving the other two to talk about the test... and the startling facts that only six people would pass. He was on his way to his home, hoping that his father was there so he could learn more about this new test.

And to prepare for tomorrow, he knew doing any major training would only tire him for tomorrow but he still needed to do something.

**Next Chapter:** Kumo's Brutal Ways


	2. Training Arc: Brutal

Shattered Dreams

_**Shattered Dreams**_

**Disclaimer - Naruto (The Manga and Anime) are copy righted to Masashi Kishimoto, not me. However, the following story is copy righted to me**

**Notes: **Again this is a revised and better edited chapter. Enjoy.

_**Chapter 2: Kumo's Brutal Ways**_

Himiloh Izur had awoken at five am that day in order to get to Kumogakure River Number Three Training Grounds, commonly called KRNTTG when referred to in a conversation.

It was the training ground not only farthest from the village but also the one that most commonly resembled a Swamp. It had enough river qualities that it wasn't numbered as one of the Swamp grounds but it was a pain in the ass to get to.

And of all the training grounds this one was commonly filled with the most mist. As he left his house knowing he had to be there at seven in the morning to meet the man who would test them he felt more like just not showing up.

Feeling that it was more then a waste to go all the way out there in order to be tested again. Shrugging that thought off he jumped onto a building looking around quietly for a moment. Shrugging the next following thought away he set off towards the gates of Kumogakure.

It would take him almost ten minuets to get there anyways and then almost an hour just to get to the Training grounds. Since he didn't intend to run the whole way he'd go at a far more leisurely pace.

It was possible to get from the gates to the training grounds in fewer than thirty minuets at a Genin's speed, if they ran the entire length. However, there was no point in exhausting himself before the actual test.

**Time Skip - One Hour Forty-Five Minuets**

Izur had been sitting around for Thirty-five minuets, already having warmed up and seeing no reason to do anything else he was lounging against a tree. His eyes closed, and as he looked up Masaru jumped down from a branch.

A rather annoyed looked crossed over Izur's face before he banished it as quickly as possible. _"Again... That's the second time he snuck up on... What's he doing here so early, anyways?"_

Masaru looked at the kid almost wanting to sigh. He didn't know exactly how long he'd been here but he knew the kid had been here longer then himself. He'd been around for about twenty minuets setting up traps of Exploding Tag arrays, Kunai's, Shurikens, and a couple of other things that these Genins would have to watch out for during the test.

He crossed his arm looking at the young Himiloh. _"This is the kid that... eh well it's interesting if I had been anyone else he'd have caught onto my presences a lot sooner..." _He unfolded his arms and wanted to grin devilishly.

If the other two kids weren't here in the next three minuets they would be late. In very, very, very fine print at the bottom of that page he had given them all it said if they were not ten minuets early then they were late.

And it also explicitly said some bad things would happen if they did end up being late to any meeting. He wondered briefly if the Himiloh had managed to see the fine print or if he was always insanely early.

He was more likely to think of the former considering that he'd been here over forty minuets early. Shrugging the thought he kept track of time in his head.

The time passed and it ticked away slowly in the almost peacefully awkward silence that had settled between the Jounin-Sensei and the Genin Student who wasn't quite a Genin yet.

At six fifty four the Kunoichi could be heard coming through the forest. Izur looked up sighing, as he finally stood up. "She sounds like a bumbling rhinoceros." He shook his head in almost-saddened way as Masaru looked at him, in what might have been called annoyed surprise.

The girl was in fact hiding her presences well and she was making almost no noise at all, in fact she might not even be making any noise at all. He knew that the arrogant kid had sensed her by his words, but before he could comment on it she was in hearing distance.

He turned and watched as the young Kunoichi jumped down from the trees to land only twenty feet away from him, but on the opposite side of Izur, where it would have been a lot easier to land. He started to speak but was interrupted by a loud crash his head snapped in the direction to see the flaming red hair that marked the third member.

_"I didn't even sense him approach..." _Both Izur and Masaru had the same thoughts as they look at Hachiro who had oddly enough managed to sneak up on the two quietly, without even alerting the Jounin.

However he had tripped and given himself away by falling out of the tree. Masaru shook his head and suddenly there was one of him behind both Hachiro and Leiko.

"You're both five minuets late. According to Kumogakure rules not only do I get ten hits on each of you but you also have to do fifty push ups and fifty sit ups." As he had been talking he had walked over towards Izur grinning as he indicated the kid.

Now however as he continued speaking his voice was twice as venomous. "And you scion of Himiloh will get twice as worse for not making sure your teammates were on time. You were here over a half an hour too early, you could easily have gotten the other two here earlier."

He grinned at the look of shock that had come over all their faces. The other two had it pretty easy while Izur had a little bit of horror added onto his face. Finally Hachiro stammered out, the one question Masaru had been expecting. "B...b.. b...but Masaru-Sensei it said to be here at seven..."

Masaru nodded rubbing his chin as though he was really thinking about it seriously and then he grinned again. "You missed to fine print on the bottom that says if your not ten minuets early your late. Now... prepare for the consequences of your actions."

Each of the three Genins took a gulp as the clones standing next to them wheeled to face them. It hadn't even crossed through any of their minds that it was odd how their Sensei could make solid clones. As soon as each was facing his respective target the man administered lowered strength blows onto the kids, but making sure that it was still something to be expected from a Jounin.

Stronger then blows from the Academy Teachers... a lot stronger.

By the end of the administering blows, all the kids were bleeding from mouth or nose Izur from both as he dropped and started his push-ups. Masaru spoke as they were working, having purposely waited while they were half way through it before saying anything.

"Remember Izur if you're not done at the same time it starts all over for you." Izur gasped at this new realization as he started to push himself even harder Hachiro slowed down slightly with his own not wanting to get the third member of their team in trouble even if he had acted like an ass on their first meeting.

However Leiko shook her head at him and continued at the same pace, Hachiro looked a question at her and she spoke under her breath. "If you slow down... we'll all get in trouble." Hachiro nodded and resumed at the same pace.

By the time the other two had gotten to ten on sit-ups Izur was just starting. Masaru looked between the three with slightly raised eyebrows. The two clones he had created already having disappeared. _"Impressive. I give him that; I didn't even think he'd make it out of push ups." _

Shaking his head though he grinned the boy wouldn't make it to a hundred before the other two made it to fifty. When they stood up he bent down grabbing Izur by the back of his neck and started to speak to the group. Izur had made it to Eighty-three.

"Now for an example of what happens to weaklings that hold up our testing time. Your punishment is ten additional hits and you still have to finish your sit ups and you have to restart with fifty more push ups and sit ups." without further ado the man smashed his fist first into the kids stomach and then his face proceeding to deliver eight more similar hits before dropping him.

The kid lay there for a moment and Masaru feared he might have knocked him out when he started back up on his sit-ups. _"Strong kid... but sometimes I regret what we have to do here." _He shook his head, couldn't let them know he was human.

Izur finished his last remaining sit ups and then start on the newly appointed fifty push ups, the boys arms seemed to quake slightly from all the work but he finished in record time, only to flop onto his back and do the last fifty sit ups.

As Izur stood back up Masaru grinned. Finally they could start the darned test, as soon as he explained. "Took you long enough, I'm seriously considering assigning more for how slow you went but alas, we don't have time, so without further ado the test."

**Next Chapter: **Not One, But Two


	3. Training Arc: Not One but Two

Shattered Dreams

_**Shattered Dreams**_

**Disclaimer - Naruto (The Manga and Anime) are copy righted to Masashi Kishimoto, not me. However, the following story is copy righted to me**

**Notes: **Revised and Better Edited Chapter.

_**Chapter 3: Not One but Two**_

Kazu grinned at his three Genin as they all stood their nursing their wounds, admittedly he did feel bad about having to do it to them but the same thing had been done to him and every other Kumogakure Shinobi.

It was what had made them all so strong in order to develop such a powerful village. "All right, finally we can move since we are no longer hampered by lazy children." Izur glared back at the man standing in front of him, rather annoyed at having been singled out... again.

They'd done it at him at the Academy as well, it was dangerous to stick out but it was also good. Izur closed his eyes trying to regain his own balance as he listened to Masaru speak again.

"I'm harder then most other sensei's. I require two tests to be passed. The first is for you three to run all the way back to the Raikage's office and retrieve from the Shinobi at the missions desk as scroll, and get back here. You will also be trailed and hounded by me all the way. You will be attacked and set into traps; you will have to find a way out."

He grinned at the three as he was explaining the mission. Hachiro was the only one of the three who even showed any realization at how hard this would be. "However in thought of the villagers you won't be attacked in the village... physically. You must then, after receiving the scroll race me back here. You have only an hour and a half. If your not back here within that time, you fail and will face even more severe consequences."

He grinned again as his hands flashed, far faster then any of them could read, into the hand seals as he made those same solid clones that most genin weren't familiar with. Izur smirked as his sensei's clones positioned themselves next to each student with the real body lounging against a tree now. "Go." That single word sent all three flying.

_**A/N - For the test I'm only doing it from Izur's POV since this Story is about him**_

Izur had jumped up and west and started off with all the speed he had inside of him, but his body had taken a serious beating from earlier and he found that this hindered him far more then he'd initially thought.

The clone following behind him seemed to have no problem keeping up, and as Izur looked at it he growled despite himself. _"He didn't say I couldn't kill his clone... so..."_ The boy continued running his feet barely seeming to hit the tree branch, only two minuets into their run he hit a branch and using his arm swung back up onto the top of it.

His hand already having pulled out three kunai he threw them straight towards the back of the clone as it had passed him. They almost seemed to connect but the clone turned and caught them, throwing them back. Izur jumped up a branch watching as his weapons lodged themselves in the tree.

He crouched down, a slight growl coming from his throat. _"Rai-Bunshin? Or the real body? Hmm... I need to conserve Chakra for the second test..." _He drew another Kunai and charged forwards bringing his arm back to swipe, but instead of blocking like Izur had expected he jumped backwards with a quick fluid movement before aiming to kick up.

Thinking this as his chance Izur took the Kunai and jumping backwards at the same time threw it at the clone's upper leg. It connected, more thanks to luck then anything else, as the clone hadn't expected the attack. However the clone manages to send one of his own Kunai's into Izur's exposed arm.

Since he had the landed attack though the clone exploded letting loose a shock that even though Izur had thought he'd been out of range for turned out to be incorrect. He groaned as he dropped from the trees, his fall stopped when he smashed stomach first into a strong branch. _"Damned... Rai Bunshins... Urgh... he's stronger then I thought the electrical field was way farther then normal..." _

Izur forced himself up launching himself from tree to tree again at his fastest speed. He had wasted a good five minuets fighting with the clone and was probably farther behind then he had wanted from the other two. He' really have to step up his speed in order to catch up to them and then surpass them. As he ran he pulled the kunai from his arm wiping the blood off on his outfit.

He'd gotten the worst punishment this morning because he hadn't helped the two people considered to be his teammates. That wasn't his fault, in his mind at least, they should have been faster or noticed that it said to be ten minuets early. Of course he refused to remember the fact that he himself didn't even know that they were required to be ten minuets early.

He continued on, with the Bunshin that had been assigned to follow him destroyed he could easily make it to the village and back without having to worry about traps, attacks, or racing it. Or so he thought. As soon as the Bunshin had been destroyed another had been created and appointed to take off and attack the boy.

Izur was more then two thirds of the way to the village a grin had started to flash across his face, and his confidence would be his down fall. He landed on a tree launching over towards the next, and with a thud it was several moments before he realized he'd been thrown from the branch.

Jumping up he looked around eyes narrowing as he sampled the air around him, but there was nothing but a destroyed branch. A very think branch that his measly weight could not have broken that easily. He moved forwards a few steps only to regret it as this movement activated the trap he'd been thrown into.

Jumping to try and escape from the massive amounts of Kunai and Shuriken that were flying at him he took the only available escape route only to find that it led to another trap this one sending him flying back from the exploding tags.

He lay on the ground for a few moments trying to force his battered body up when his nose caught the scent of someone approaching; jumping from the ground he landed heavily on a branch. He mumbled and incoherent curse word before trying to move forward at something similar to his previous speed.

But the foreign scent was catching up and rather quickly, Izur tried to coax more speed from his battered body. And seeing the gates he threw out the last bit of energy he could to try and slide through the gates, looking back to see the fast approaching clone.

However before the Bunshin could catch up Izur was already in the city, so rather then entering and following his clone decided to set traps for him to run into. While he did that Izur limped through the village to end up at the mission's office.

Jogging up to the desk to see two scrolls still on the table he reached to grab one only to receive a sharp whack on the head. "Who the hell are you?" Izur groaned, sure it had been rude but he was in a bit of a rush.

"I'm Himiloh Izur, I'm on Zetsumei Masaru-Senpais team and he said we were to get those scrolls from you." The woman considered him with a steely gaze, and she reached for a scroll.

But her hand didn't grab one instead her fist came forwards connecting with his face. He smashed into and through the wall skidding on the ground. Izur lay their bleeding from both nose and a new cut that had appeared from the hit on the side of his cheek from her hit.

As he struggled to his feet he glared at the woman his hands already forming a seal to counter attack when a commanding voice stopped him. "Hold it! What's the meaning of this?" Izur turned around as he heard the voice and color drained from his face as he saw who was behind him.

No one but the Raikage, he'd not been knocked through one wall but three directly into the Raikages office where he was meeting with two Jounin about a mission to send them on. A look of fear flashed through him at this and he could see a similar look go through the woman's face that had hit him.

"Ahh Uhm... Nothing Raikage-Sama... I...I rudely interrupted the Kunoichi and... Just received due payment for my actions..." He had paused with his fear watching the woman. She'd knocked him through three reinforced walls strait into the person he feared and respected the most in the world.

As he considered that, he thought maybe he was going to be hit back through those same three walls again. Instead he just received a basilisk glare from the two Jounin and the Raikage before pointing and saying two words. "Out. Now."

He didn't even say a yes sir as he dashed from the room as quickly as possible. When he got back to the missions office, the woman handed him the scroll and shooed him off. He sighed as he left, now just to run back. He took off as fast as possible now, having wasted forty minuets of his time already.

He was halfway through the village when he realized something was wrong, everything about him had just gone… colorful. He slid to a stop looking around trying to decipher what had happened. His body turned and then it didn't respond at all as it failed him completely.

He tried to force himself up only to see Masaru approaching and he fixated the Jounin with his own glare. Still trying to fight his body up Izur growled in anger as Masaru bent over him picking the boy up by his hair and throwing him into a near by building.

Izur smashed through it and another one trying to force his body back to functioning properly, but something was _wrong._ It just wouldn't work and as his hand was smashed by the size twelve shoes that Masaru wore Izur fought not to scream in his agony, eyes closing as he tried to find a way out of this horror.

As his eyes snapped open he snarled in realization, as he struggled to cut off his chakra supply to his brain without being aloud to use his hands. A moment later he found himself staring at the ever calm village before him, forcing himself back into motion he bereted himself for the stupidity he had shown.

"_Masaru-Sempai said he wouldn't attack us physically in the village, I should have remembered."_ With another low growl he continued out of the village, and as he did so he recalled the clone that had chased him into it. He must be either close behind or laying in ambush ahead.

He made it half way back when the first trap of just a single log was sprung. It almost hit him but instead he landed on top of the log glaring about him. Surely this was where the Jounin's clone would make his next stand. He whirled around jumping from the swinging log to another tree branch.

He was about to move forewords when his nose caught the clones scent he started going sideways, looking to place more distant between himself and his aggressor. Only to find him driven into the second log trap, this one with tens of logs swinging at him. Izur was hit by no less then three of these logs smashed against a tree the first time and then pinned between two of the logs to second time.

He hit the ground with an audible thud, forcing himself up he glared at the clone as it approached, but before it could do anything else he launched off again.

However Masaru having seen what had happened at the village decided to give the kid a slight break. Though he found the whole situation funny.

**Next Chapter: **Late... Again


	4. Training Arc: Late

Shattered Dreams

_**Shattered Dreams**_

**Disclaimer - Naruto (The Manga and Anime) are copy righted to Masashi Kishimoto, not me. However, the following story is copy righted to me**

**Notes: **ARevised and Better Edited Chapter.

_**Chapter 4: Late... Again**_

Izur landed next to the same tree he had taken off from with eleven minuets to spare before his hour and a half was up, Masaru hadn't moved at all what with his crossed arms and bored looking demeanor it was obvious that he was enjoying this torture far too much.

Izur glared at him throwing the scroll towards him, which was, unsurprisingly, caught without the Jounin even opening his eyes. "Just on time I see, you were barely here early though. Still not helping your teammates however. Tch."

The man sighed as he faced Izur arms still crossed and the boy looked completely confused. Barely early? He was eleven minuets early that was more then enough time. Masaru sighed and chuckled all at the same time giving that chuckle an odd quality.

He shook his head as he spoke, "And they said you were supposed to be smart kid... come on think about it." Izur glared now and then his eye widened in sudden surprise and understanding... that was ridiculous but apparently the man was holding it true even to here.

_"If you're not ten minuets early... you're late... God damn him..." _In an oddly Deja Vu like fashion Leiko landed with six minuets to spare before the official hour was up and at the same time a loud crash behind them as the third member of their team fell out of a tree... again.

Izur sighed as the other two looked pleased at having made it, their clones standing at their sides smirking. He was standing closest to Leiko when she spoke. "Hah, see Masaru-Sensei we all made it in time!" She seemed proud of herself but Masaru chuckled and motioned to Izur to speak.

He sighed, it was a bother and they would get annoyed with him but it was an order. "Actually you are wrong Leiko-san. As Masaru-Senpai told us earlier if your not ten minuets early your late." Hachiro sighed, and shook his head at the whole situation. Leiko stared angrily at Izur and then at Masaru who grinned and shrugged at the same time.

There was also a twinkle in his eyes that just kind of said how much fun he was having today. He took over now though as he spoke, time to tell them how they'd done in the first test. "The only one who actually passed the first test was Himiloh Izur, but because he showed no team work at all, I'm adding four minuets onto his time which means he fails as well."

He grinned at the boy who'd scoffed at that fact and now was glaring just as angrily as before at the man he called Senpai. _"This is ridiculous. I passed that damned test with a minute to spare..." _Izur growled lowly but Leiko and Hachiro just looked at each other with slightly skeptical glances.

"Now for a quick debrief before I administer the consequences." He looked at all three of them, it was obvious that any thoughts he'd had of them doing well had vanished by the look in his eyes. From what the three Genin could see he completely expected to fail them no matter what.

No matter how good they did he'd fail them just because he could, because he didn't want to take the darned job on. Izur would have sighed and walked off if he could have but that was showing the utmost disrespect and the punishment for that was worse then he wanted to think about.

"All right, starting with Izur explain what you did. Why and how." Izur raised an eyebrow, Hachiro cocked his head slightly, and Leiko smirked.

Shrugging off the sudden surprise of the order Izur started. "I killed the clone following me after ten minuets of running. How? I stabbed it in the upper leg, near or on the artery. I ran into the village and got the scroll, dispelled a common Genjutsu, dodged a common tree log trap and got here with one minuet to spare. I figure, Masaru-Sempai just made another clone after I killed the first."

Masaru looked at the kid as did the other two as he shrugged off the thought again. _"A Rai Bunshin, similar to a Mizu Bunshin doesn't have the full strength of the user's power. Unlike Mizu Bunshin it does, however, have one fifth of the user's abilities. Him destroying it is impressive enough. Taking that hit from her is another." _

He shook his head, this kid was good and if he could pass the test he'd be a benefit to the village. "Seems you forgot to mention that you fell into a common Kunai/Shuriken trap, and was smashed about by a more sophisticated log trap and stabbed by the clone, any ways any questions for Izur here? On why he did what he did?" Masaru spoke up, it was best from them to learn from each other.

Even if they failed, Leiko nodded raising her arm slightly, and Masaru nodded to her to give her permission to speak. "Why did you destroy the Bunshin? I mean in the end it served no purpose right?"

Hachiro nodded in agreement with what she said, and Izur shrugged again. "Mainly, because I felt like it. Secondly because Masaru-Senpai didn't say we couldn't. Thirdly because in ten minuets I was jut over half way back to Kumogakure, so I knew that I could make it into the village before another clone was made. The rest is moot."

Leiko nodded at the explanation and Hachiro who had gotten it from the beginning just stared lazily at the trees. "Ok Leiko, now your turn."

Leiko nodded as she organized her thoughts. "Simple, I ran like hell. I ended up smashing strait through three traps and getting hit a few times by the Bunshin. But nothing overt. Hachiro and I hooked up when he was entering and decided to work back here together."

Hachiro nodded speaking now as well so as to get it over with. "Yeh. I did pretty much the same... only I injured my Bunshin with a trap of my own." Masaru nodded as the three finished explaining. Izur's way had been both smarter and faster for them, had the three worked together they would have undoubtedly gotten back in time.

Maybe even with more then just a minute to spare. Masaru stood up straight again and spoke. "Similar punishment as last time, yes even for you Izur. Only this time double everything. So be speedy this time."

A sigh escaped Izur as the next beating commenced, when it was done and the physical training started again Izur fell behind only managing to get to one hundred and eighty two on sit ups and again received the exact same punishment as before. Kazu shook his head picking the boy up this time by his head.

"Maybe I need to repeat the rules of a Shinobi to you, Boy. Work faster." Again Izur received the same beating as before, and still had to finish the last sit ups along with a hundred more of each.

**Next Chapter: **Plans to Beat the Demon


	5. Training Arc: Plans

Shattered Dreams

_**Shattered Dreams**_

**Disclaimer - Naruto (The Manga and Anime) are copy righted to Masashi Kishimoto, not me. However, the following story is copy righted to me**

**Notes: **ARevised and Better Edited Chapter.

_**Chapter 5: Plans to beat the Demon**_

Masaru, Leiko, and Hachiro were all waiting while Izur finished up his sit-ups. The kid was only half conscious by this time having received two beatings from his sensei and a particularly hard bash from a Kunoichi in the town. He was also bleeding lightly from nose, lips, and two cuts on his left cheek from being hit there several times.

As he forced himself up Masaru turned and looked at the three Genin again wiping his hand quickly to one side to send the blood on it flying off. "All right time to remind you three of the Academies two most basic rules. One; don't make the same mistake twice. Two; Always be respectful."

He looked at all three of them with a particularly venomous look that was thrown in with extra poison at the most beaten up member of their team. Leiko and Hachiro had been late twice and Izur had not helped them both twice. So all three were making repeated mistakes that could easily have been avoided if they'd just paid attention.

"All right the second test is, to fight me. All three of you, for the rest of the day until eight pm. You three must fight me and try to land one hit each on my real body. If you can't do that by eight Pm then you fail as Genin's." All three stood up just a tad straighter, none of them wanting to fail obviously. Izur dropped lower as soon as Masaru reached back into his pouch.

He withdrew a Kunai and spoke, "To give you guys a real chance, I won't use my hands." With that he placed the Kunai in his mouth and charged straight for Leiko who jumped immediately throwing four Kunai down towards them. Hachiro had made some quick hand seals and a second later Masaru had four balls of solid water being thrown towards his body.

Izur hadn't moved yet, hadn't even seemed to blink. As Masaru jumped to avoid the hit Izur jumped slightly before him, straight at him. His fist drew back as he went to punch him and to his slight amazement it connected only to turn into a small log. Izur flipped forwards landing as he looked around for his sensei.

A second later over a hundred logs were coming at them from every direction. As all three prepared to jump and avoid Izur saw the Exploding Tags placed on each of the stumps ends. "Use Kawarimi, theirs exploding tags on those logs."

With that yelled out he'd given a warning to his teammates as own hands went into a seal to concentrate and then his real body was replaced and he found himself sitting in a tree wondering how he would work this out. He had to work with the other two, he knew that but what kind of plan could they come up with?

Izur watched as the Kawarimis were crushed and then it exploded. _"That... could have killed us..." _Izur jumped forwards back into the center and whistled, low.

It was the common call to get people to center on someone and his two teammates jumped down next to him. "All right, we need a plan. But first we need to test Masaru-Senpai's skills. So we should go with all three at a frontal attack. Hachiro-San no more Ninjutsu all Taijutsu to try and gauge his skills first. No need to waste Chakra."

He looked at the other two and received nods with that they jumped up to start after where Izur thought Masaru had gone but it turned into a waste of time since the Jounin had appeared standing right on the edge of the clearing.

Izur charged forwards with the other two flanking him he prepared his Chakra and as he drew his left hand back him was prepared to use the Kawarimi in order to avoid further damage to his already battered body.

He didn't have the chance to even swing forwards as Masaru appeared in front of him, and he barely managed to use the Kawarimi he had prepared. He watched as the log was shattered into several pieces and then as Leiko took the hit to her jaw and went spiraling to the left while Hachiro followed the same example set by Izur and used Kawarimi.

Izur shook his head, _"Foolish girl should ha..." _His thoughts came to a halt as an exploding tag went off.

It had been attached to Masaru when he had attacked Leiko; Izur raised his eyebrows and as the smoke cleared it turned out to be a Kawarimi as well. But still he had underestimated Leiko. Something he couldn't do again and as he shook his head he looked back at her as she struggled up.

Using Shunshin he appeared on her left to see Masaru standing their lazily watching them. He whispered quietly to Leiko. "Hachiro and I are going to get a hold of him. I want you to attach exploding tags that you can activate to our shoulders. Hachiro, at the last minute we'll Kawarimi out of there and leave the tags on logs to explode on Masaru-Senpai."

He received nods again and Izur offered her a hand in order to give her a pretext to attach the tag to his shoulder. Once she was up she stumbled slightly and attached one to Hachiro as well. With that Hachiro appeared to say something along the lines of 'stay here' to Leiko while Izur and Hachiro charged forwards.

Izur brought his fist back again and as Masaru moved appearing in front of him he used Shunshin no Jutsu all over again gripping Masaru's arms. Hachiro using the opening took his hit landing a solid one on the mans chin while taking off and re-attaching his tag on the mans stomach at the same time. Izur's eyes widened slightly at the change in plan Hachiro had made.

In return for Hachiro getting his hit Izur received a head butt and he felt his head snapping back as he did that he attached the exploding tag to his shoulder and was pulled off of his grip being thrown.

Once he was thrown Hachiro jumped free as well and Leiko activated the exploding tags only to watch as he turned into a log. Izur held his head from where he'd smashed it into the tree. One hand on his nose, trying to stop the bleeding and the other checking for any other head wounds.

He stood up glaring at Hachiro who looked rather proud of himself; Leiko seemed pleased for him by the way she patted him on the back. But that was probably because he hadn't gotten the shit kicked out of him during that last attack.

Izur growled and shoved him away while he stalked towards Masaru who was just standing there again. He had to get his hit in; Masaru couldn't say he hadn't helped the team by getting Hachiro's hit in and almost having gotten Leiko's in as well. This time he grinned suddenly as he said something silently.

It looked like it was only a little bit; enough to probably have said 'Do what I say'. Izur pointed at Masaru and yelled suddenly. "Come on Guys, Leiko take the left side and Hachiro take the back and hold him. I'll charge strait up his front and smash his head in."

Izur grinned if he thought they were going to do exactly what he had just yelled then someone else was bound to get their hit in. Izur pushed off the ground, as his hands flashed in a sudden hand seal, on either side of him appeared a clone. All three pulled back their Kunai's and swung strait for his head, but then all three disappeared and in his place was one person.

Hachiro who caught both arms as Izur appeared behind throwing his two clones on top of him and throwing the Kunai at his head. Leiko appeared on the right and swung hard from the right and smashed it into his face causing him to fall down being top heavy and the Kunai to miss.

Izur frowned at that part; it seemed too much like a coincidence. As Izur landed he ran forwards his leg coming up and connecting with Masaru's face only to have it explode again into smoke and then turn into yet another log.

Izur growled standing up perfectly straight and looked at Masaru who stood there with the Kunai in his mouth and a smirk on his face. His only thought, _"Leiko and Hachiro have gotten hits in with Izur's plans. But he's the only one left. Now to pound on them."_ He grinned, cracked his neck as he took a step forwards.

**Next Chapter: **Unfair Advantage


	6. Training Arc: Advantage

Shattered Dreams

_**Shattered Dreams**_

**Disclaimer - Naruto (The Manga and Anime) are copy righted to Masashi Kishimoto, not me. However, the following story is copy righted to me**

**Notes:** Revised and Edited.

_**Chapter 6: Unfair Advantage**_

Izur, Leiko and Hachiro all looked at the Jounin that was training them. For Leiko and Hachiro they could just stop fighting now having already passed by landing their hits. But both still retained enough humanity to recall that the reason for that was the youngest member of their team.

Izur looked at them, almost preferring that they would just back off and leave so that he could get rid of Masaru alone. No need to let everyone know what his abilities were when he could easily hide them. And Masaru had implied that they might not even be on a team together.

As he charged forwards again with another plan based mainly on deception and coy use of other things they had he found again and again that his plans were no longer working. It seemed that no matter how clever the plan the Jounin always managed to escape before Izur could land a single hit on his frame.

They'd tried thirteen or fourteen more plans all variations of the previous ones and as Izur was kicked back again rolling across the ground kicking up more dirt he came to the slow conclusion that a completely different plan would be needed. He started to push himself up and as he saw everything he grinned, that might just work.

They could turn his own ideas against him. As Izur got up he grinned spitting blood he motioned for the other two to come up to him as the three knelt he spoke in a quick, hashed, pain ridden breath.

"All right most of the ropes that Masaru-Senpai used for his log trap should still be in place. We can use them to extend our own and create a never-ending pendulum of swinging spiked logs with Exploding tags attached... We'll need you two in the woods and me actually. Ahh I know..."

He grinned at Leiko as he leant forwards and whispered something secretly into her ear a second later her fist collided with his face and he was sent flying through the undergrowth. Hachiro had turned and exclaimed immediately to her, "Why'd you do that?"

She frowned staring in the direction she had knocked the young boy and spoke in that same high tone only far more irritated. "He was rude." under her, breathe however she spoke quietly so that only Hachiro could hear her.

"He asked me too, but I don't know what he's up to... yet." She shrugged suddenly at an unseen question a person might assume that Hachiro had asked. A second later Izur walked back through the forest and whispered into Leiko's ear and an almost devilish grin spread across her face as she told the same thing to Hachiro.

Who, while not cracking any expression at all seemed to have a slight twinkle to his eyes? The three team members turned and looked at Masaru and all used the Shunshin no Jutsu technique to get behind him.

This time they found a new world of pain as Masaru actually used the Kunai in his mouth. As the three were knocked away more blood was mixed with the green grass.

Izur found himself bleeding from a wound to the left side of his chest while the other two had matching ones in their arms. He jumped up, still hadn't been enough time to finish. He charged forwards again and at this reckless maneuver he could see the anger in his teachers face.

And then he could feel the results of that anger as Masaru brought his head up, and then slashed downwards in order to slice Izur. It was luck that the gray breastplate held, but barely. There was a large cut from the upper left to the bottom right that had gone all the way through.

And Masaru had managed that with just his head. As this realization dawned on him he received another, harder kick to the head as Masaru jumped backwards a fierce grin spreading on his face. Looking all the fiercer with that bloodied Kunai in his mouth.

Izur looked at Leiko, who was struggling to her feet again but looked capable of going several more rounds. Then at Hachiro who despite seeming to be the bumbling idiot on their team was standing calmly with hands in his pockets.

Izur pushed himself up again; he wondered briefly how he could stand after all this beating. He heard Hachiro chuckling as he quickly performed those same hand seals from before and four solid balls of water went flying towards Masaru.

As soon as they passed him Izur's hands went through his own hand seals and his had drew back and came forwards with a burst of lightning shooting from his mouth. Right on the heels of the water it hit directly at Masaru's heart, and then they had another soaked log with a hole in it.

And Masaru standing where he had been previously. Izur grit his teeth in annoyance running forwards pulling three shuriken and throwing them just as he jumped, Leiko was following the same behind him until he was kicked in the stomach and Leiko was grabbed by the back of her head and sent into the ground, face first.

Izur shook his head spitting blood up as he forced the battered body he now possessed, up. _"Times up Masaru-Sempai." _Izur grinned as he performed horse, tiger, sheep, and dog in quick succession. Two clones appeared, one on either side of him. The clones charged and Izur grinned as they were dispatched with the lethal efficiency of a Jounin.

But it had caused Masaru to jump into the air, at which point the clones he'd made in the forest cut the rope and now there came ten pointed logs from the left and the right with exploding tags placed on the opposite ends. They were set so that each one filled a gap and would not hit its opposites.

At that same time the twenty clones disappeared, and as the twenty swinging logs came forwards Kazu dodged up landing on them and Izur grinned while using the Boar symbol to activate the exploding tags.

All the three Genins heard was a massive 'Whump Thump' of compressed air as the things went off with Masaru right in the center of them. The explosion that they couldn't see were, if any where, Masaru had gone to, had created too much debris and dust.

Izur wasn't watching the center of the explosion instead he was looking earnestly at the spot where Masaru had constantly reappeared. As soon as the smoke was gone Izur groaned and the other two stared in surprise at their, completely unharmed sensei.

Izur growled low now as he looked at the man, it wasn't possible after all. They'd achieved complete surprise in that trap as well as done something not even Masaru had done. Izur forced himself into a standing position; he'd dropped into a crouch to avoid being hit by the wooden debris from the explosions.

"Not bad, Tajuu Rai Bunshin No Jutsu. Never would have guessed but not well enough. It's only two you still have six hours to go." Masaru's voice was a mocking sentiment in the back of Izur's head as he stood up. This entire time it'd felt like he'd been toying with them.

Izur formed the hand seals for another technique, his hands starting to glow with a new flow of Chakra and he charged forwards swinging only to barely miss but a slight cut appeared on Masaru's clothing from the Chakra charged into his hands.

As he continued to swing Masaru had to dramatically dodge each technique as though it were some kind of Zanbatou being swung at him. After only ten minuets of putting up with the little boys attacks he noticed the steady slow down of each of those attacked. Even though he appeared to be sweating heavily from exhaustion he shouldn't have slowed down that much.

Looking at the boys hands he grinned, the Chakra built up but he wasn't good enough to release it yet so it only weighted his arms down after awhile. Masaru ducked using his hands as a pivot point he swung his body around a half circle and smashed both feet into Izur's stomach with a sickening crunch as the kid was sent flying away.

He landed swinging around in another half circle staying in that crouching position. Izur was trying to force himself up, again. As the boy brought himself up into a crouched position he shook his head setting off after his sensei.

A moment later the Taijutsu fight had begun again, and not seconds into it Masaru found himself assaulted by two other genin as well. Hachiro and Leiko, or Hachiro and Izur he could have handled without getting hit but not Izur, Leiko, and Hachiro.

He was however careful to take only hits from the two older Genin, he didn't need Izur walking away from this cocky it was meant to break his arrogance not fuel it. As Izur swung again allowing the chakra build up but also remembered to relax it after every five hits so as to keep his speed up he started to notice Masaru's plans.

Not about his arrogance, but about taking unnecessary hits from the other two just to avoid his, and this only seemed to fuel his anger even more. Creating a clone he spun on the balls of his feet throwing bother Leiko and Hachiro away from the fight, and stabbing the clone at the same time.

Izur was thrown black from the electric shock, his body alive with the energy and he smirked seeing that even Masaru had been hit by it. He obviously had not expected a masochistic attack such as that. As he jumped back up the man spoke, a laugh in his voice. "Sorry but that wasn't a hit kiddy."

**Next Chapter: **Eight O'Clock Pain


	7. Training Arc: Pain

Shattered Dreams

_**Shattered Dreams**_

**Disclaimer - Naruto (The Manga and Anime) are copy righted to Masashi Kishimoto, not me. However, the following story is copy righted to me**

**Notes:** Revised and Edited.

_**Chapter 7: Eight O'clock Pain**_

It was eight o'clock and as Masaru looked down at the three barely standing Genin he couldn't help but give a slight grin. He'd started to pound away even more ruthlessly after four had hit. Never once allowing the scion of Himiloh to land his single hit in.

He'd been forced to take more and more hits from Leiko and Hachiro but it had the effect of failing the youngest member of the team. Who was also (coincidentally) the most beaten up of the team as well. Shrugging he pointed at the sky in a manner to tell them the time.

"It's eight. Which means Leiko and Hachiro you pass. We'll meet again tomorrow at the Academy same time as today. Izur you fail stay behind." Leiko and Hachiro nodded giving slight half bows before setting off towards Kumogakure.

Masaru grinned at the young ten year old that glared back at him bleeding from far more wounds then someone his age needed to have. He still held a Kunai in each had as he prepared for whatever he would have to do.

Masaru scratched the side of his head for a second, in thought. _"I can kind of get why the Raikage wanted me to go extra hard on this kid… but I think even this might be a bit excessive…Humph. Oh well orders are orders." _

Shrugging Masaru reached back pulling the large Zanbatou forwards as he held it in a guard position. Grinning he spoke, had to give off that he was some blood-crazed guy after all.

"All right I'll give you one more chance to pass, brat. You take one full swing from my sword and show up tomorrow at the Academy no matter what. If you can do that then I'll pass you." Izur swallowed, that sword was huge it looked like it could cut a man in half with only a slight flick of its owners wrist.

But Izur knew this was one of those pass or fail things and he had no choice. He couldn't fail at this test when he had made it so far. He wasn't sure why Masaru had been purposely avoiding all of his attacks with wanton disregard to the other two genin but he had.

By seven even Leiko had picked up that for some reason their Sensei was trying to make Izur fail on purpose, and they didn't see any reason in it. Izur was however grateful that the two had decided to stick around when they had passed already.

For now though he was concerned with why he needed to take a swing from that Zanbatou when he was already severely beaten up.

He spun then placing his kunai back into his pouch and turning around. "Give it your best Masaru-Sempai." He waited as he heard the movement of the man behind him and a second later pain exploded through his back.

He hadn't even felt the cut it just felt as though his entire back had been split open. He winced falling onto his knees as he did so glaring forwards. Forcing his body to a standing position he fell forwards, unconscious now. Masaru looked at him as he wiped the blood off the kunai he had used. "… Damn kid."

**Time Skip – The next morning – 3 AM**

Izur stirred, twitching in the bed to some dream that was raging through his mind. He felt odd… something wasn't right he was on his stomach and there was a throb running through his body. Most of it was dull but as he neared his senses to his chest they intensified.

Particularly if concentrated on his back. His eyes opened he looked around trying focus on the overly white walls of a hospital. Standing above him was a nurse, clipboard in hand and scowling down at him.

"I see they think you're this year's strongest rookie. Well for now at least." It was all she said before turning around and walking out, Izur tried to push up but only managed to whimper as the pain from yesterday hit him.

It was at that same moment that he realized he wasn't wearing anything either. Finally having managed to sit up and making sure the blanket covered him he looked around. _"Only four other people…this is a more private room… odd." _

Izur shrugged this thought away. Generally Kumogakure's hospital rooms had ten people in them but his injury must have been considered of a high enough risk factor to place him in a more private room.

Not that private but enough though. He looked at the bandages wrapped around his chest, and arms, he couldn't see his legs. He could see the signs of bruising where the bandages lacked to cover. Looking around for some kind of clock to find the time he sighed, this time more frustrated then anything else.

"_Have to get to the Academy before six fifty." _He jumped out of bed shivering from the cold that normally inhabited Kumogakure. Walking forwards to the small door to the closet he opened it up looking for his clothing. He frowned as he examined the breastplate. Frowning at it he dropped it on the ground choosing not to wear it instead dressing with everything else.

"_Good thing there is time to stop by the house to get another breastplate." _He shook his head opening the window and jumping out of it running towards his house. He needed to show up completely ready for a mission, it was always possible that they could get one today.

They'd passed after all. Well so long as Izur showed up in time. Once at his home he snuck in looking through the innumerable amount of breastplates laid out finally choosing one with red slashes on the back. Throwing it on he turned to see his father standing in the doorway.

He bowed instantly, before speaking with his head still down. "Good morning, Father." He received a nod as the man walked towards the kitchen only a few words came out in reply. "Why did you wake me at three… again?"

Izur frowned at himself, he would have to remember to be stealthier, and this just wasn't acceptable. "Gomen Father. I hadn't realized my lack of skills." His only answer was an annoyed hand waving him off to go do something else. Izur's eyes traveled down to the sleeping jaguar which yawned lazily at him. That was the animals own form of dismissal.

He turned jumping out the window he'd come from. He pulled his forehead protector off his shoulder staring at it as he headed towards the Academy. Frowning at it he tied it on his forehead, having worn it on his shoulder until he was officially accepted as a Shinobi of Kumogakure.

He landed in the front yard of the Academy and sat down staring at the already half lit sky. His mouth twitched in a frown. He was incredibly early again and if it turned out that either Leiko or Hachiro were late Masaru would probably take that anger out on him.

He wasn't sure what would happen today but he was sure that the Raikage would have a part in it. And any mistakes would show poorly on Masaru, which would mean that the consequences would be all the worse for the team. Plus the fact that the Raikage himself might be there, Izur didn't want to look bad in front of that man.

He jumped up with the intention to go find them and make them come even if it was incredibly early and then the thought died as well. He didn't know were they lived. He tapped his hand against his breast plate in thought, there had to be someway he could find the other two.

His sluggish mind however wasn't co-operating the way he wanted it to do so. He let loose his own animal sound of frustrating punching the tree in the process. As he was sitting back down, recognizing defeat he made a mental note to ask those two where their homes were.

At the moment he couldn't feel the pain in his back but that was likely to change.

**Next Chapter: **Waste of Time


	8. Training Arc: Wasted

Shattered Dreams

_**Shattered Dreams**_

**Disclaimer - Naruto (The Manga and Anime) are copy righted to Masashi Kishimoto, not me. However, the following story is copy righted to me**

**Notes:** Revised and Edited.

**New Character Descriptions -**

Kobayashi Arai - **Rank **Genin - **Age** 11 - **Height** 4'11 - **Weight** 85 lbs - **Eyes **Blue/brown - **Hair** Short and a dark brown bordering on black - **Build **Unknown/Hidden by clothing - **Clothes** Simple pair of black pants with a gold and red shirt that bears his family crest which is a dog spitting fire and wind from its mouth - **Distinguishing Marks **Light sprinkle of freckles acrossed his face - **Team** Kumogakure Genin Team 6

Unknown - **Rank** Jounin - **Age** Unknown - **Height** 5'8 - **Weight** 178 lbs -** Eyes** Green/Gray - **Hair** Short, and a bright yellow blonde - **Build** Stocky muscular build, meant for power - **Clothes** Custom jounin outfit which is gray/red instead of the normal black, also wears the gray/green jounin vest over it. Head band is tied to the right leg, over the artery, by a similar colored band - **Distinguishing Marks** Scar on left cheek, scars on chest and arms, also a star like star on right foot - **Team** Sensei of Kumogakure Genin Team 6

_**Chapter 8: Waste of Time**_

Izur's eyes fluttered slightly, he must have fallen asleep as he looked around the sun beat on his face and in front of him (less then three inches away) both his team mates were leaning forwards poking him in the chest repeatedly.

He grunted, annoyed that they would disturb a sleeping person. Hachiro spoke, his voice a soft baritone seeming too deep and loud to come from someone so young. "You failed. Why are you here?" Izur shook his head, for a moment there he could have sworn there were four Hachiro's.

It was odd to have his vision quadrupling on him like that. Realizing that he had been asked a question he looked around quickly. Other then him there was Hachiro, Leiko, three other Genin, Masaru, and another Jounin.

All of whom were ignoring him (other then Leiko and Hachiro of course.) Izur pushed himself up until he was standing wincing in pain as he looked over at Masaru. He should thank the man for telling these two that they would still be teamed with the only Genin who had actually failed the test.

By now Hachiro had poked him in the shoulder again; thank god it was the uninjured one. Izur turned looking at him and speaking at the same time, what he said (in his mind at least) was utter bull shit. He didn't feel like explaining what had actually happened. "Hachiro-San... why do you think they put us in teams? So that we could pass individually? No, if one of us failed we all did."

He didn't notice the twitch of surprise from the two Jounin, Leiko did but she choose not to comment on such things for now. As Izur looked around he wondered what they were all waiting for.

If everyone was here why not start whatever they had called them here to do? Sighing he looked at Leiko (who at least wasn't glaring at him) and spoke. "What're we waiting for?" As if in answer a loud crackle and swirling could be heard.

He missed her shrug as his head snapped about to look at the man now standing with his face less then a centimeter from his own. Izur's eyes widened as he looked into the dark gray eyes of the Raikage and he swallowed, audibly.

"Me." Was the answer that was given, the two Jounins looked at the Raikage silently while the six Genins did a slight double take and started worrying about making a good impression.

He took a step back and looked at the Jounin motioning for them to follow him over away from the six students. Who had automatically fallen into a line facing their teachers. The kid who had graduated with the highest grades standing in slightly ahead of their teammates.

Masaru, the blonde haired Jounin, and the Raikage all moved to about thirty yards from the Genins and spoke. "Is that him?" The Raikages voice was almost completely inaudible to the Genin's as he spoke a simple nod was the answer Masaru gave to the man.

"Hmm... so that is the Rookie of the Year? Or so far..." This time it was the blonde haired one who spoke and the three looked at the Genins. It seemed as if they were peering into each of them all at once and yet not at all.

Loud swallows could be heard as the tensions rose yet again. With a shrug the Raikage moved forwards planting himself ten yards from them with both Jounins flanking him. The Jounins were on the same side as their teams, Masaru to the right and the blonde haired one to the left.

"You are the six rookie Genins. From this day forwards you will practice together, go on missions together, and maybe even die together." He paused looking at them all, individually this time.

"We have a tradition in Cloud, the student thought to be the strongest before the Chuunin exams is given a diagonal cut from left shoulder to right hip. This means that this person is currently the strongest Rookie Genin."

He didn't seem to look at anyone in particular as he spoke and Izur did his best not to fidget_. "So that's what the nurse meant..."_ He continued to watch the Raikage wanting to touch his back or make any kind of movement to it.

But he didn't want to show too much arrogance in front of the Raikage for fear of what he might do. For it was well known that the Raikage detested braggarts. As the Raikage continued everyone's focus sharpened on him.

"We also, when the Chuunin exam comes up do another diagonal slash this one from Right shoulder to Left hip to show who was the strongest Rookie Genin by the Chuunin exams. So keep that in mind. Now, it is time to get started with becoming a true shinobi. You will each get your first mission today. If you haven't eaten or brought all your Shinobi tools I suggest you go and do so now. Meet back here at eight o'clock to receive your debriefing from your Jounin Sensei."

He watched them all again, it was only seven ten right now. They had wasted all that time for nothing. "Dismissed." With that several of the students took off, Izur watched them; Leiko and Hachiro were among them.

Two of the members from the other team left as well leaving just Izur and another boy who looked... rather sour. Shrugging these thoughts off Izur lowered himself to the ground wincing as he did so.

_"A mission? Ugh... my back is killing me and this is bound to be a lot of grunt work..." _Frowning Izur watched his hands silently, unknowingly he was being watched by the two Jounins and the other Genin.

His thoughts continued on, drifting towards his annoyance about his teammate's failure to bring their supplies. He looked up when the other Genin approached him, and when he failed to stand and give the other genin common courtesy the other boy frowned at him.

"You ought to know when to move for your betters." Izur's eyes sharpened now, the other kid had a nasally kind of broken down tenor and it grated on the ears. "Really? And what makes _you_ my better?"

He purposely added on a sophisticated accent just to piss the other boy off, it didn't work completely however. "Simple I'm Kobayashi Arai son of Kobayashi Sato." Izur's eyes narrowed on the other now, taking in his full appearance.

He stood about four foot eleven, maybe a bit taller. His hair was a dark brown bordering on black and he had a light sprinkle of freckles across his nose. He looked average. His attire was a simple pair of black pants with a gold and red shirt that bore his family crest, it served to hide his figure well. He looked to be about eleven or twelve.

As he examined the other boy he also thought about the Kobayashi clan, it was perhaps the most infamous clan in Kumogakure. It had supplied three of the five Raikages, and it made up for one third of the elder council.

It was respected and renowned for creating powerful shinobi, and apparently this kid thought he was the shit because of it. Well then again he was an heir to their Kekkei Genkei, which wasn't exactly anything to sneeze at either.

"Good for you, my heart just exploded from fear. Can you tell? But then again I still don't see your point so I won't rise." The sarcastic remark seemed to leave the other boy off guard for a moment. Apparently that had not been the expected response, then again his experience with peoples response to that told him it shouldn't be his response.

The other genin clenched his fists, fighting back the urge not to hit the arrogant underling. He was this boy's superior in birth and power and soon rank. "Oh I seemed to have forgotten to mention that while being this years youngest Rookie Genin I'm also its Strongest."

Izur heard the snort of laughter from his own Team Leader and fought back on his own; he also saw the irritation on the blonde haired Jounin's face. "Really now? So are you nine?" Arai looked confused for a moment before continuing on confidently, "No I'm eleven, and I placed second overall in the graduating class, and first in my own class."

The boys pride was about to be chopped short so as Izur looked up at him a smirk flitting across his face. "Really well then I guess you were wrong after all." Arai's self effacing grin turned into an ugly sneer, "Why you insolent…"

The two were interrupted by Masaru, "Izur why don't you quit messing with him now?" The younger boy sighed and nodded a second later the Izur sitting beneath the tree poofed and allowed a small shock to hit the other Genin.

The real Izur grinned at his 'tormentor' behind his back. "You're not the youngest I am, being that I'm ten and you my idiotic rival are eleven. Secondly you are not the strongest as you don't have the cut." With that Izur turned walking to another tree and lowering himself there.

Arai sputtered for a moment, before his Jounin silenced him with a glare, but he bestowed his most furious look on Izur. To Izur it didn't matter, because it didn't even come close to the intensity that the Raikage or his father could put into one.

**Next Chapter: **First Mission - Pigs


	9. Training Arc: Bacon

Shattered Dreams

_**Shattered Dreams**_

**Disclaimer - Naruto (The Manga and Anime) are copy righted to Masashi Kishimoto, not me. However, the following story is copy righted to me**

**Notes:** Revised and Edited.

_**Chapter 9: First Mission - Pigs**_

After twenty five more very boring minuets, Hachiro and Leiko appeared again looking rather happy and, none too surprised to see the youngest member of their team there before them.

As they approached Masaru looked up appearing in front of them and immediately began to speak.

"We've got a D ranked mission. We'll be herding several pigs and cows to the slaughter house, killing them, sorting out the body parts, then cleaning up the mess. We've got sixty cows and thirty pigs. Each of you will kill twenty cows and ten pigs and rotate between each position so that you get the most benefit. You're supposed to report to the Rancher at eight O clocks."

At that he disappeared Izur stared for a moment before performing several hand seals. A moment later, without having standing up leaves wrapped around his body and he appeared on the outskirts of Kumogakure.

He started jogging, wincing on every other step towards the man standing near a large smoking house. Once he was there he looked around silently to see Masaru sitting on the roof staring down at him. Two minuets later both Leiko and Hachiro appeared next to him looking rather... harried.

Izur glanced at them before looking at the man wearing dark blue cover alls and no shirt to speak of. "Eh... you squirts the one to kill me animals today? Feh... Whatever."

He glared at the three Genin and they all glared back, for the moment that is. "Cows are two miles that a way..." He pointed off to the left. "Only bring sixty, make forty males, and twenty females. None of the calf's. Kill them cows last sort out all the organs in one pile, legs in another bodies in another, tails in another, so on so forth. Theirs freezers inside marked for what goes where."

He glared at them some more wanting confirmation that they understood what he was telling them. By this point it was pretty obvious he expected them to screw up. And that he considered them to be legally retarded, which was figured by how slow he was speaking and the amount of hand gestures he was using.

He pointed right suddenly and started speaking again.

"That way, about four and a half miles are the pigs. Only bring thirty and mix it up pretty evenly between males and females. Bring the fattest. Theirs a scale down their so you can weight 'em. You'll prolly have to carry all them up here since they won't walk too fast. Same kind of organization as the cows and make sure you clean up the mess. Don't want any cow blood mixing with pig blood."

He glared even longer before turning to walk away towards the village, he hadn't gone more then ten feet before he shouted something back at the, "Oh! By the way, I expect yawl to be done by three o'clock."

With that the man was off to do whatever he intended to do, Shrugging Izur turned and started towards the cows area. Hachiro and Leiko both grabbed one of his shoulders and pulled.

"Hey look; lets do the pigs first, theirs less of them any ways... and he did say he wanted the cows done second." Leiko spoke this time and her voice was rather mild, more towards the deep side though.

Shrugging, Izur spoke as he started off towards that area at a jog. "I'll kill the first ten, then Leiko, then Hachiro. We'll switch to dismembering and sorting after killing then cleaning after that. Agreed?"

He heard a short silence before both replied, at pretty much the same time. "Hai." So it was unanimous. Izur picked up the pace, four miles back and forth with heavy pigs... he was not going to like today at all. Once they were their Izur looked at the loud, sloppy, ugly animals.

He paused slightly before going after a large one more then three times his size. As he jumped on it he groaned realizing this was going to be a lot harder then he wanted to admit. He wrestled with the creature for a moment until he had hog tied it.

Looking around he grinned, maybe it wouldn't be so bad. His hands made a few seals and then five clones of him appeared.

One immediately came towards him two jumped off towards the woods, and the other two attacked another pig wrestling and tying it down. Not long after they had accomplished that the same two from before came back with three large logs.

With that Izur started off with three pigs all swinging from logs and six versions of him. All that while Hachiro and Leiko had stared at him like he was insane. They started to mimic what he had done only well working together instead, and actually using the scale.

Once he was back at the smoke house he dropped his three prizes and started back, with the logs. Passing Hachiro and Leiko on the way, he wanted to say 'Ten each?' but stopped knowing that it was unfair of him to do so.

The two would end up bringing in twenty by themselves and he could easily help them. So he'd bring in as many as possible, even with his injured back. He was going to regret today.

That seemed to be the only thought going through his mind with every trip; it had only taken one trip for him to realize that even going back with the lightened load would hurt. And now his body had found a way to hurt in places that shouldn't hurt.

By the time he had made three trips, carrying nine of the animals across the four mile gap he felt the need to just stop and let the others finished. But while he had gotten nine across in his three, in Leiko and Hachiro's three trips they had only gotten three across. Twelve of thirty they weren't even halfway there.

That was probably the more disheartening of the facts, but so was the fact that now he had to carry them to a scale and check weights first before he could take them. Plus the animals seemed to have realized that fighting back might spare them every once in awhile.

This was only serving to make the day even harder and as Izur helped his clones try to wrestle another mean bastard down it managed to kill one of the clones, shocking them all and destroying the other one that had been helping. Growling Izur recreated the killed comrades grumbling about eating lots of pork to get vengeance.

It took two hours thirty three minuets and forty two seconds to gather thirty pigs at the smoke house. Izur had personally (including his clones brought over twenty two while Hachiro and Leiko had brought over eight.

He dispersed the clones and dropped to his knees on the spot panting from the effort of not only his own body but also his clones. Hachiro and Leiko helped him up. Panting themselves, if not quite so heavily.

"Y...you're insane Izur." He grinned at Leiko; well he'd take it as a compliment for now. "Twenty Two pigs by yourself... you should have slowed down. Any ways we should start it's already ten thirty."

Izur nodded pulling away from their grasps and retrieving a Kunai. They'd laid the pigs into Groups of ten so as to make killing them easier. Izur had been about to start when Leiko spoke again.

"Hey, you know instead of switching spots we should just kill our group, dismember, sort, and clean up after our own. That way we don't waste time switching." Izur nodded, feeling no need to speak and mentally kicking himself upside the head for not thinking of this sooner.

"Good Idea Leiko." That was Hachiro, ever the congratulator. As they started abut their bloody business Masaru watched, intrigued on whether or not they would flinch from the task.

First was Izur who seemed to have no concern for the killing as he took them out and started the dismembering process without even blinking. The boy was covered in blood from his ears down.

How he had managed that was beyond the Jounin, but he shrugged. Hachiro seemed more humane, a lot more humane then his younger colleague. He killed each one with a fell swoop and hesitated each time, as well as when he was dismembering them. He also seemed squeamish, not a lot but slightly so.

It was Leiko that particularly frightened him. She was dismembering each one before killing it. Izur seemed to have noticed and was watching her silently. Hachiro was too absorbed in his own task, and Masaru winced at the loud squeals of the slowly dying pig.

It was probably a good thing that Hachiro hadn't noticed; else he may have thrown up. Izur looked back at his already half way finished job and shook his head_. "Sadistic Bitch... Jesus she could at least give those pigs' clean deaths..."_

He finished dismembering the final four pigs and cleaning their innards having everything sorted he started to run from his spot to the correct freezers placing his treasures within them. Once he'd finished he looked at the other two.

He was covered in more blood then either of his teammates but he'd finished first. Izur licked his lips tasting the blood he felt an odd stirring in his body. Blinking for a moment he looked around. He could have sworn he'd heard something say meat.

He shook his head for a moment looking at Leiko and Hachiro to see that they had started to ferry their treasures back and forth. Soon they could go and get the cows. His eyes seemed to glaze over slightly as he went to thinking, and frowning over his thoughts.

He hadn't noticed it before, but the stench of blood hung so heavy in the hair that he couldn't smell anything past it. This would be something to remember for future times, if blood coated a single area too much it became near impossible to find any new scent.

This meant that it could probably happen with any smell, it was a good lesson to learn on a training mission instead of a more serious one. He frowned at himself however, he should have realized this fact sooner, should have learned it sooner.

It hurt his ego that he might not have learned everything about his own inherited talents and slightly put him in his place. It also told him that some scents were not good to smell for long periods of time, for this one was causing a rumbling in his stomach. This obviously was not natural.

After all look at Hachiro he looked about ready to puke his own guts out from the work. Another lesson he had learned in such a short time, it was good he had been paying attention to his teammates during this exercise. It was proving most profitable.

**Next Chapter: **First Mission - Cows


	10. Training Arc: Steak

Shattered Dreams

_**Shattered Dreams**_

**Disclaimer - Naruto (The Manga and Anime) are copy righted to Masashi Kishimoto, not me. However, the following story is copy righted to me**

**Notes:** Revised and Edited.

_**Chapter 10: First Mission - Cows**_

Izur was flicking his fingers back and forth watching as the still wet blood flew off his fingers in little droplets. He sighed looking at Hachiro who had almost thrown up when he'd walked by Izur and smelt the bone deep thickness of blood that he was now wearing.

_"That guy needs to get a stronger stomach. I mean, I don't smell that bad."_ Izur jumped when a hand placed itself on his shoulder spinning around to see Masaru-Sempai standing there. He winced as he did so; the sudden movement wasn't exactly meant for someone with the injury he was currently sporting.

"You still need to clean up the mess you made, Izur." Blushing lightly he nodded looking at the large (ok very large) puddle of blood where he had been working. He entered the building looking about for a few seconds but not seeing anything immediately stepped outside walking about the sides of the smoke house.

He ended up at the back staring at a large hose coiled about it. He stared at it for a moment, wondering how the thing was supposed to work. Following it back to the start of the hose he saw a knob that a person could turn.

He attempted to turn it left but it wouldn't budge he tried the other way and after a second a loud buzzing noise reached his ears. His hand immediately stopped, in his other hand he was holding the other end of the hose directed at his face.

A second later he dropped the hose gasping for breath and stumbling backwards. Well his face was clean now, but he also had water up his nose. He continued to cough and splutter about the darned coil of rubber that had shot water at him but stopped.

Glowering at his now chuckling teacher he grabbed the hose and sprayed the ground where he'd made the mess. _"I'll bet that Arai kid has one of these thingy majigers at his family home. Why haven't I learned about them?"_

As soon as he was done Hachiro took it and cleaned himself and his own area up then Leiko did the same. Only like Izur she didn't bother cleaning herself up. No need to waste time. Izur was about to start towards where they had been told were the cows were when he was stopped by another hand on his shoulder.

He glowered at it for a moment, "What?" His voice was gruff with impatience. Another sigh behind him, this one too drawn out to be really meaningful. "Look, we need a plan this time. Last time you didn't do so badly but we still need a plan to go off of. After all the cows are bound to be heavy as well and we needed to bring sixty of them this time."

Izur looked at Hachiro, his soft voice sounding like an intrusion on the world. He tapped the side of his head lightly as he thought about it. Nothing he could think of would... his thoughts skittered to a halt as he considered what he'd come up with.

"Well we could just carry them on our shoulders, that way we would bring back one for every person..." Leiko beat him to saying it, this time at least. As Izur considered the idea more and more he wondered how his back would hold out.

Not very well, probably. Shrugging it away he nodded to Leiko's idea, more empathetically then need be. This time he didn't wait and just started off jogging again. At least it was only two miles back and forth rather then the previous four.

Izur landed with a thud and created nine clones of him again. Nine clones that looked rather haggard as well. Every trip would bring twelve cows they would only need to make five trips.

Good it would be easy. Izur (and clones) jumped into the mass of cows and started randomly grabbing ones. Much like the same way they had done with the Pigs.

As they draped a cow over their shoulders, Izur realized just how hard this was going to be. The darned things were heavy, and awkward to hold. He tottered back and forth with every step and the fact that it was two miles meant he would have to pick up the pace in order to get all of them back and forth.

It took him thirty minuets to get the first ten cows to the slaughter house and he was drenched in sweat from the exertion. It was ten thirty so if this kept up it would be twelve thirty by the time they even got to kill the cows.

He set off again, that still gave them a lot of time at least. It took a bit longer, thirty minuets longer to be exact. It was one O clock when three genin, an amused sensei, and sixty cows all sat in front of the smoke house.

The cows, were indifference personified munching grass as always, the sensei was half awake not caring, and the Genin? They were mind blowningly exhausted barely moving except to breathe.

It was Leiko's who spoke up this time, taking pauses between words to breath. "We... sh...Should kill... them now." Izur nodded, but Hachiro felt the need to reply. "Y..Yea. B...But we'll ne...Need to be... quick."

Again Izur only nodded as he pulled a Kunai from his bag and advanced on the defenseless cow. He started by simply slitting their throats but only four into the killing he felt an odd thing take him over.

His temperature seemed to rise and his eyes were being covered by a red veil. His breathing quickened far more then normal and before he knew it he was standing crouched outside the small group of twenty cows he had killed.

His body dripping and steaming from the cow's blood. He turned and looked at them to see all dead, and more then half dismembered already. _"What was that?!"_ Shaking his head he stepped back in to continue the job, he was suddenly eager to get this over and done with so that he could go home and sleep. The exhaustion he felt was something far different then the normal physical exhaustion he had.

Masaru's eyebrow had raised a millimeter as he watched Izur become a mad man within the confines of his helpless cows. _"Blood Lust? And to think I thought Leiko was a sadistic little person. Then again..."_

He shrugged his thoughts away, it looked like Izur didn't know what had happened, but he was obviously drained from it. The boy was shaking his head and muttering to himself as he finished the dismemberment and sorting jobs.

Looking at the sun Masaru grinned; forty minuets and they were finally done here. Thank god it had gotten really hot around noon and now was not the time to be sitting around getting beaten on by that damnable sun.

Izur's eyes clouded as he came to the monotony of his work. He thought briefly on the fact that most D ranked missions were supposed to be quick and that many times a Genin would go through several in one day.

They should have ranked this one C because of its length. But maybe they hadn't because of how relatively easy it was. He shook his head realizing that all he had left to do was clean up the mess, again.

And maybe himself. He looked like a bloody demon, literally. As he sprayed the grass with the hose it was taken from him without cause. He looked up to see Leiko walking off with it and himself standing in a small puddle.

"Eh... My minds wandering a bit too much today... not well." He shook his head and looked at the sky himself. Thank god it was almost time for the old man to return so they could leave.

He looked towards the city eagerly watching for any one to approach. Frowning he rose up on his toes, a low growl emitting from his throat. That old geezer was going to make them wait even longer just so he could stay out on the town.

However just as another growl was rumbling past his lips he felt something cold and metallic on his neck and it was cutting his skin. Without thinking he immediately made another one of his Rai Bunshins that collided with both himself and the man who had him trapped.

It didn't seem to have any effect other then to have a Kunai sticking out of his chest, but a familiar voice came from the man behind him. Izur looked at the faces of his teammates and the look of fear and respect mingled brought the mans name to his mind.

"You are looking for me?" The Raikage's voice was rather distant in itself as he released the boy, who immediately fell to the ground. The effect of the Rai Bunshin on him was far from over and his body twitched involuntarily.

He felt a hand connect with something on his back and then he was free to move again. Scrambling to his feet he immediately bowed to the Raikage. "My apologies Raikage-Sama." The man rose an eyebrow but waved him off, Izur jumped back to stand with his team.

The kunai still sticking out of his chest. "Well I see you guys have finished on time... not a bad job I guess. Masaru." As soon as Masaru's name was spoken he was standing next to the Raikage looking at his students.

"Your team's next mission will be in three days. Have at least one training day between them, you can pick from the pile I gave you." With that the man disappeared and went off to do whatever the Raikage did on a day like this.

Izur looked at Masaru, his eyes glazing as he realized the pain he was in. "All right you three have tomorrow off then for the next two days we'll train as a team in the Swamp, meet at number one at seven am every morning. After that meet me at the gates after the second day of training and I'll explain your Third mission."

All three blinked at this and stared at the man before them with curiosity. "Third Sir?" It was Hachiro who spoke and Masaru nodded. "Yes, third Hachiro. Killing Pigs was one and Killing Cows was another."

There were slight nods before Masaru disappeared. But before his teammates could start moving towards the village Izur spoke up quickly, remembering his mental note from earlier.

"Ahh… Hachiro, Leiko where do you two live so that we can make sure none of use are late." His two teammates looked at him like he was nuts before shrugging to each other after sharing a look. At least he was trying to be a better teammate, even if he did come off as condescending.

"I live in the far north western part of town, street NW12-6-8. I'm the third building on the left." Hachiro spoke first, he seemed slightly unsure about it though. "I'm right across the street from Hachiro; it's why we always arrive at the same time." Leiko responded after a shortly more prolonged period.

Izur froze on the inside momentarily, both of his teammates came from respected families but for some reason it hadn't clicked that they lived that way too. They were in what was probably the second most well defended and richest part of town. The first would be the Raikage's personal home.

"You?" Leiko's word seemed to go in one of Izur's ear and directly out the other. A hand on his shoulder had his eyes refocusing. "Ah sorry, what did you say?" He seemed apologetic at least. "I asked, where you lived, just in case you know."

Izur nodded, almost regretting that he had brought this up. "I live in the building directly to the left of the hospital. The Gray and blue one, really hard to miss." With that he disappeared missing the looks his teammates had on their faces.

They followed suit finally, by walking back towards the village. They were talking about the sudden surprise of their teammates living quarters and what had happened over today. Long day at work, neh?

**Next Chapter: **Training With a Demon Sucks


	11. Training Arc: Hell

Chapter 11: Training With a Demon Sucks

_**Chapter 11: Training With a Demon Sucks**_

**Disclaimer - Naruto (The Manga and Anime) are copy righted to Masashi Kishimoto, not me. However, the following story is copy righted to me**

**Notes:** Err nevermind, this one wasn't revised or edited... yet. If anyone feels that its lacking in editing and needs revision just tell me.

Izur woke, with sleep filled eyes. The sun had only just started to rise as the genin pushed himself help. This would be their first time actually training as a team, not a test or that disgusting mission but training.

And Izur was too excited for words as he started making himself breakfast and getting ready for the day… err morning. After all Izur had woken at three again and he still had four hours until training would actually start.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Two hours and thirteen minuets later Izur had finally screwed up the courage to enter his teammate's neighborhood and as he wandered around looking for their houses he remained a bit on the jumpy side.

Rounding a corner he jumped rolling across the ground and camouflaging himself against a wall glaring out at the movement he had seen. It was approaching and the soft thump of feet on the ground could be heard.

When the dog rounded the corner and continued on, Izur removed his camouflage and continued onwards, trying to calm his jumping nerves. It wasn't until he was standing in front of Hachiro's house that he took a deep breath and committed himself.

By banging on the door and ringing the doorbell a few times. He'd chosen Hachiro first because he figured he could live through the consequences and then Hachiro could help him get Leiko.

A team effort right? It was several minutes later before a very disgruntled and angry man opened the door. He looked tired but the outfit he wore was immaculate to look at. "A summons from the Raikage?"

Izur was trying to place this new person in Hachiro's life but wasn't seeing any family resemblance at all. The guy was only three inches taller then Hachiro as well, and shrugging he decided to treat him like just someone else.

"No… I'm here for Hachiro. We have tra…" Before Izur could finish the door was slammed in his face and while he was contemplating what to do he heard a loud crash and suddenly a lot of yelling.

Going white in the face he started to move away from the house, about the time he got through the front lawn a familiar shape went flying out the window from the third story. Izur seeing who it was started towards his red headed friend only to find a hand held up to stop him.

"Uhm… I'm sorry I didn't…" His eyes went back to the house and regarding it with a sense of foreboding. He was never going to knock on that door again if he could help it. Instead he pinpointed the window that Hachiro had come out of. Next time he would just sneak in.

While Izur was contemplating a better way to retrieve his teammate for tomorrow, Hachiro had already gotten the rest of his outfit back on and started towards Leiko's house. "Coming?"

Izur turned starting after him, and hoping that Leiko's house was much less interesting then that one had been. He wasn't sure how much more he could handle of people throwing other people out of windows and starting such a ruckus so early in the morning.

By the time the two boys had gotten to Leiko's front door it was opening to reveal Leiko stepping out and hesitating when she saw Izur. "Well that explains everything?" Izur blinked owlishly at her wondering what she meant.

"Huh?" Hachiro's baritone cut the silence a moment later. "Oh I mean it explains the time, your not supposed to be waking for another hour or so. Its only five thirteen." As soon as that was out Hachiro rounded on Izur thumping him one on the head knocking the younger boy down.

He stalked off, down the street not towards his house. Laughing Leiko offered a hand up and started speaking. "You should have gotten me first he might have been calmer." Izur growled, he'd figured it all wrong, but how. Everything had told him that the females were the ones that were grumpy in the morning. Not the guys.

"So why did you wake us so early anyways?" Izur looked back at her and shrugged, but when he saw her eyes narrow in a glare he decided to explain. "Ahh well you know we have to be there early and I figured it would give us time to warm up and get to know each other better?"

He ended it with a question as though he was hoping that she found it satisfactorily enough of an explanation not to start a fight here. Grumbling she started off after Hachiro, but she heard a 'fine, whatever' in there somewhere.

Following at a safe distance, where she couldn't turn and hit him without his reacting first he watched the ground for a bit. "So where are we going?" She looked over her shoulder before waving off towards the main part of Kumogakure. "To grab Hachiro, get breakfast, then we'll go and get to the training grounds."

Sighing the younger genin followed sullenly, they should have eaten breakfast before leaving their houses, would have made everything so much simpler for them. Then they could have gone off to the training grounds and had an hour and a half to not only warm up but prepare for Masaru-sempai. Now they wouldn't.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Breakfast had gone badly. Warming up had gone badly. Trying to learn more about each other had gone badly. Training would go badly. Or so Izur was assuming, and since all three were in a raw mood with each other it wasn't a bad assumption to make.

At the moment it was six fifty and Masaru stood in front of the three looking rather surprised to have found them all there. And not only that but all warmed up as well and at least marginally ready for whatever was coming at them.

Key word though, marginally.

"All right you three, I'm thinking that since you're all raring to go we'll have a little fight again. You three against me, only this time survival is the key. You will have to attack me and either avoid being hit more then fifty times, avoid being hit in a vital area, avoid being hit more then twenty five times with a kunai, shuriken, or my Zanbatou, or avoid being hit in a vital area with one of the said weapons."

He grinned boastingly at the three genin before continuing on, "You'll also have to try and get me out with one of the said rules as well. So I'll give you until seven o'clock to plan then we will start. We'll end at noon to break for lunch."

The genin nodded, all three having gone at least slightly paler at the training objectives. For this, they knew quite well, would be impossible. Kind of like an academy student trying to complete an A Ranked mission.

Or a civilian attempting it.

The three sighed moving back out of ear shot of their sometimes questionable teacher, leaning in Hachiro looked at Leiko for a moment before speaking.

"If he hadn't added in that portion about having to knock him out of the fight as I well I would have suggested that we use stealth and hide for the majority of the time. But that's null and void now."

Izur wondered mildly what the point of saying that was, other then to waste time. Shrugging back at the other two he started to think. He'd already given them his best in the testing. His thoughts were interrupted by Hachiro continuing on however.

"Now I'm thinking that we should find a way to trap him, so that he can't move. It seems that if we can do that then he won't be able to hit us and we can get all of ours in. The question is how?"

Izur tapped his side in thought, eyebrows furrowing as he tried to fight his way through the unknown to come up with a solution.

"We don't know each others abilities or not all of them so we should share them now. That would help better then trying to guess." Leiko's common sense surprised Izur, but not Hachiro who knew her already.

"I've focused on water and earth techniques. Uhm… my Ayatsuito no Jutsu (String Reeling Technique) would be good, maybe even my Suiton: Daibakuryuu no Jutsu (Water Element: Great Exploding Current). Maybe even one of my Genjutsus might work."

Izur nodded thinking momentarily, before speaking himself. "I've focused on lightning and water though I do have a wind technique. My Kirigakure no Jutsu (Hidden Mist Technique), Fuubaku Houjin (Exploding Seal Formation), or Kekkai Houjin (Barrier Method Battle Array) could help."

Hachiro blinked in surprise at the list of techniques the younger boy had listed, "Can you make an Oboro Bunshin (mist clone)?" Izur didn't waste time thinking about it, "No, why?"

The frown on his teammates face didn't surprise him, why would he have been disappointed if he had said yes, after all it wouldn't have made sense. "Darn… I have a Genjutsu that works a lot better with more then one person using it. I'll have to teach you Oboro (mist) and the Genjutsu soon so that we can use it together."

Izur nodded as if this was something one should talk about all the time, but that both received sharp knocks from their female teammate. "Hullo? Forget about me here?" Hachiro gave his female friend a sheepish grin before motioning for her to talk.

"Well I'm a fire and lightning mix. My Mizuame Nabara (Starch Syrup Capture Field), and Shikumi no Jutsu (Death Viewing Technique) will help." Izur blinked and grinned suddenly at Leiko, she looked uneasily at him for a moment.

"What?" her question was sharp and annoyed but he just continued to grin for a moment. "How many fire techniques do you have in your arsenal?" She thought for a moment before responding, "Four, why?"

Izur seemed to think for a moment before responding, "Great. I know Kokuun no Jutsu (Black Clouds Technique) and Fuusajin no Jutsu (Dust Wind Technique). I can make your fire attacks more then five times as powerful with those."

The look on Leiko's face could only be described as something similar looking to a gaping fish. Then as the realization hit her that he wasn't kidding her grins made her look like some street urchin. "Oooh but sensei is in for it now."

The three chuckled amongst each other and got down to the real planning, time was precious but they still had a bit left before they would be interrupted.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"So how is your team?" a deep voiced baritone washed over the man sitting across from him.

"Improving, Arai is more of a snob then expected and since the other two also come from well placed families they do not get along well. Overall team dynamics is horrible, individually they are each powerful."

The man paused for a moment, as though thinking through his thoughts before continuing on. "Arai has his father to learn many new things from and it puts him farther above the other two. Add in his sudden rivalry with the Himiloh boy and he's also working much harder too."

When he did not continue with his explanation the older man rose an eyebrow, "And? I take it this is not all." He made the question a statement, making it obvious that this had better _not_ be all he had to say.

"No sir. Well I'm just worried sir; I think Kobayashi-Sama has told encouraged his son too much. I think the boy may try something against the Himiloh scion or his team if he is not carefully watched."

The room's temperature dropped suddenly at the younger man's admission, though nothing was said for several minuets the man did not fear his master. "You are more then likely correct. This could be good for us though, I want Arai watched but if a fight does happen let it go on. Just do not allow any permanent or serious injury."

The man stopped for a moment, as though in though. "It would do good to test these two, both are hiding things from their instructors and I want to know what it is. Encourage this rivalry."

A look of uncertainty passed over the younger man's face but he rid it as quickly as possible. "Yes Sir."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Izur's arm swept forwards his weapon slashing down with the speed of shinobi enhanced muscles. As the kunai ran through his opponent catching on a particularly thick piece of muscle the clone 'poofed' splashing water onto the already drenched genin.

No rest was given to the already worn genin however, as Masaru blasted an Ikadzuchi Senbon (Lightning Needle) his. Though the genin failed to fully dodge it, he did manage to avoid any serious damage.

The needle passed through his hip barely and inch away from the surface, but it added a bit of an extra shock to the wound managing to cauterize it. Or at least partially, which had the blessing of preventing him from bleeding out too much more blood.

"Having trouble there Izur-_ Chan_." The insult was quite clear and the young genin grit his teeth as he sent his own hands through the same set of seals, if just slower. Drawing back his hand he threw two of the Ikadzuchi Senbon's taking his teachers sudden surprise and maximizing on it he drew back his head completing a new set of seals and suddenly a black, sticky, and shiny liquid shot from his mouth dousing his teacher.

"How the hell?" his teacher didn't get too much more time to contemplate how his student had learned the rarely taught technique because he found himself soon dodging fireballs shot by one Fukazawa Leiko.

And he'd thought those two had really abandoned their teammate when he'd started his foolish head on attack. Now he knew that he had been wrong twice, once when he had assumed that Izur was being an idiot and the second time when he'd thought Hachiro and Leiko had left Izur to his own devices.

He should have known better. Jumping he froze when he saw what Izur was doing and was distracted enough to be nicked. However the sudden gust of wind that Izur had shot at him and that he had dodged had done its job well enough.

Soon enough he'd been lit on fire but a moment later the copy of him poofed and all the genin were left with was a log. The two genin turned on their sensei as one starting to attack him as a two man team and drive him back even more into the swamp. They figured that if they could get him far enough back then they could finally trap him.

It was obvious that he at least found it harder to fight the two genin together, and when they were finally using all of their technique then he had during the test when they had been tired out from exercise and one other test.

Izur attacked the Jounin with his shuriken trying to lay them down in a thick enough cover so that Leiko could sneak up closer to him. Dropping down he dodge another shuriken that had been aimed for his head and tried to drop his own sensei.

Failing that he moved closer trying to fight his way to the real Masaru. Having very little luck with that and finding only normal Bunshin clones Izur started to wonder what was going on. For now though it seemed impossible to figure out with all these ridiculous normal clones around.

Swinging his kunai he started to take out as many of the clones as possible, attempting to make the fight less of a cluster fuck as possible. It wasn't until his kunai made contact with a clone and it exploded on him, electrocuting him, that he jumped back away from the mob and sent in his own Rai Bunshins.

It was faster this way anyways, now when it accidentally hit one of the opponents Rai Bunshins not only did that electrical field kill those in the immediate vicinity but the secondary one from his clone killed the next row of clones as well.

It was kind of like a fifty for one deal, just a bit less then that in reality.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Hachiro grinned as he laid down another bunch of exploding tags, hoping that this one would be the bunch that his sensei would see. Trying to force a Jounin into a trap without him finding out was turning out to be much harder then they had previously though. It was now time to see if any of Izur's special techniques would help.

And all of his were meant to make big explosions, but they were also meant more for a foe pursuing you then one that you were currently fighting. Which was what was making this entire thing so hard, but they had made a tentative plan. It was just to hoping that Leiko and Izur could drive him over here without failing out themselves.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Leiko grinned, her hands flashing through her own series of seals until she drew back her head firing twenty balls of fire out in succession. Only two managed to score a hit, but when you needed fifty you didn't complain.

By her count Izur had already scored eleven hits on the Jounin and she had added three now. Fourteen hits in four hours wasn't that bad considering that they had also been concerned about being injured themselves.

She jumped forwards trying to get more into the fray and as she drew back her fists and launched into the fight both her and Izur set up a taijutsu match against the Jounin. While they were seriously outmatched, with double the limbs and two different styles they were bound to find some kind of way through.

Her arms moved, first going to try and break through the guard on his face, he hands flashed through as many angles of attack she could get in while standing face to face with him. But he was simply too tall for her to try and do on a head to head match like this.

With that in mind, she made use of her smaller size moving about him, scampering like a mouse from one bit of area to the next and swinging a Kunai for various non vital parts. He strategy was to target areas that he wouldn't watch as closely because their importance was less.

Izur seemed more focused on trying to end the fight in one quick swoop and it was earning him more attention. She however swung with her right handed kunai bringing it towards his arm but he caught her wrist turning it and throwing her off to the left, however she managed to twist in the air and let loose three shuriken that she had left.

Hitting the ground and sliding she charged back forwards, diving forwards she hit Masaru's legs knocking them with enough force that he would have completely lost his balance had he not relaxed into the hit.

Now as he fell she placed two kunai into his left arm pushing all the way through, but before she could pull out she found herself flying having been hit with his Zanbatou. But it hadn't even ripped through her clothing, just sent her off with a loud crash through a tree.

She blinked blearily to see Izur heading out towards her taking the momentary lull in the fight to get on with the plan. Which reminded her of what she was supposed to do, too bad she was just too tired to remember all of the details.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Noon found four badly beaten and exhausted shinobi scarfing down their lunches, the genin had not managed to 'kill' their sensei but then neither had he managed to kill them. When only a half an hour had been left they had finally gotten him over to where Hachiro was and he had gotten to join in on the fight.

Upon finally seeing him, Masaru had gone twice as hard on the older male genin then on the other two to try and wear him out faster. It had worked, marginally. It would have worked completely if it hadn't been for the innumerable amount of traps that the genin had laid.

Even then Masaru had managed to avoid many of them taking few hits and dishing out even worse ones after wards. It had all in all been an excellent training session to test his Genins abilities and he felt confident that he could put them against any lesser genin and they would kill him without losing one of their own.

They would become seriously injured but it wouldn't matter, because they would have still lived through the experience. After ten minuets of a comfortable silence in which all four had been thinking of the battle and what they may have done wrong. And eaten, Masaru leaned back and spoke.

"So what do you guys think could have gone better?" Izur was the first to respond, and as always arrogant. "You could have held back less, by my count we only needed a few more hits and you would have been killed." Masaru grit his teeth in anger getting ready to smash the kid back into place when Leiko spoke up.

"He's right Masaru-Sensei. It was hard but you still should have ended up killing us before time was up." Over the last few days of watching and spending almost twelve hours a day with these genin he'd gotten to know them well and Leiko was not someone to say such a thing to a superior.

Despite the fact that her name meant 'Arrogant' she was not, and she took her training seriously. So instead the Jounin nodded, "Fine, next time we'll have a battle in which I will not hold back at all. Fair?"

The genin nodded, and with their conversation over Masaru went to thinking about what to do next. "All right for the rest of the day we're gonna work on Stealth, Tracking, and Ambushing techniques." The sudden interest in Hachiro's eyes told him that this was obviously something that the three found interesting.

He had already labeled the three for what they were, Hachiro was Stealth, Leiko was Ambushing, and Izur was Tracking. Though admittedly all three were proficient in the three categories those were the ones that they were the best at over all.

"So to start…"

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"So how is your team?" The same older man sat with a different young man this time, only this one was far more confident.

"Outstanding sir. I think you'll like all three of them." The man's confident tone was no surprise but his words were, the elder man had not expected this.

"Really? Why do you say this?" His tone was curious, and he managed to keep any challenge out of his voice. "Eh? Well first of all, the Oonishi boy is stealthier then most Jounins, in fact I rarely ever sense him and he's a genius strategist. Only a mild tactician and his Genjutsu is amazing. Some work and he could take your job sir."

He paused thinking for a moment before continuing, "The Fukazawa girl is a good tactician and strategist not really outstanding in either. She's the most rounded of the three, good Genjutsu and taijutsu and slightly better ninjutsu. A bit of work and she would make a great Hunter Nin."

The younger shinobi grinned, with what was obvious malice. "And the Himiloh boy, plain and simple understanding here. He's a genius tactician, better then the Niidaime Raikage sir. Though his strategy skills need a lot of work, his stealth, tracking, and ambushing skills are over chuunin level but that was to be expected. His clan is the premier assassination clan after all. He prefers Taijutsu with an emphasis on Ninjutsu, though his Genjutsu is still above average for a Genin."

The man paused again, not to think but to take a breath, "I believe his father has been teaching him a lot of techniques and ensuring that he can hold up his clan name. He'll make ANBU one day no doubt."

The elder shinobi nodded, feeling mildly surprised by his old students convictions. "You are positive?" His old student didn't hesitate, just nodded sharply. "Yes, I am. I'm sure these three will hold high positions in their life."

The man nodded and waved a dismissal at his student, turning back to his work he considered what he should do about the newest crop of genin. "Oh by the way, congrats and becoming the head of our ANBU sensei."

With that the man disappeared and Kumogakure ANBU Leader shook his head with a chuckle.

**Next Chapter: **Monkey See, Monkey Do


	12. Training Arc: Heaven? Nope purgatory

Shattered Dreams

_**Shattered Dreams**_

**Disclaimer - Naruto (The Manga and Anime) are copy righted to Masashi Kishimoto, not me. However, the following story is copy righted to me**

**Notes:** Yay, Done. Have the outline for Chapters 13-17 written; now I just need to write them. Anyways enjoy Izur's Day Off.

_**Chapter 12: Monkey See, Monkey Do**_

This was becoming a bad habit, or better said it was a habit that needed breaking. The youngest genin in Kumogakure found himself waking at three o'clock in the morning again. After only six hours of sleep.

Slipping out of his bed, and grumbling about the stupidity if waking so early he proceeded to get dressed and head down for breakfast. No point in trying to fight the wakefulness it would just waste time.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

At five in the morning sharp Izur was standing outside Hachiro and Leiko's home glaring at the houses. He knew that the two of them have been annoyed with him yesterday about coming so early but they hadn't told him not to do it again. This, however, did not mean that he wasn't completely sure that he should.

He also had to factor in that he didn't want to mess with Hachiro's crazy family either, anyone who three their son out of a window at five in the morning was someone to avoid in his book. That or they belonged in a Bingo Book.

He headed over towards Leiko's remembering what she had said to him about getting her first. If she could calm Hachiro down then maybe they could get more training in then yesterday. Pausing at her door, he shrugged and jumped landing on the roof he slipped in to her home through a window.

He wasn't taking any chances that her family would be like Hachiro's.

So he snuck through the house quietly opening doors and looking into them. It wasn't until he was on the last three doors that he found himself face to face with a short man. A short and angry man, "An assassination attempt?"

Izur blinked in surprise at his words, wondering how he came to such a conclusion when there was nothing even remotely suggesting it. He was child size still and had his headband on, what even remotely suggested that he was an assassin?

It didn't seem to matter that the genin couldn't follow the logic for the short man attacked him without questions. Izur tried to defend himself but finding out that you're fighting someone about thirty times your skill with no warning and in an enclosed space generally goes against the weaker one.

The mans left fist came around to attempt a gut hit but Izur jumped using the mans arm as leverage and hurled himself over his head and attempting a back kick, but he'd already used Shunshin no Jutsu to avoid it. "Damn it! I'm not an assassin."

He tried to dodge a hit to his head by rolling to the left but found the confines of the hallway would not allow him to do so. Instead he hit the wall, hard and as it dented the man grabbed the back of his shirt kicking him.

Harshly and letting go of his shirt about the same time so that he was hurled down the hallway. About that time a door opened and Izur took it clean off the hinges landing and sliding through the back window at the end of the hall.

As he hit the ground he jumped up ignoring the pieces of glass in his body, and the pain in his ribs. Just as he was moving to jump up into the house again, two heads appeared looking down on her. To his relief one of them was Leiko, the other his aggressor.

It wasn't but a moment later that another head popped out looking down at him and this one while not too much taller then his opponent was much older looking. He blinked at the humor he saw in the older mans eyes and came to the realization that he at least knew Izur wasn't an assassin.

Staying put he waited for Leiko to get dressed and he started grumbling about idiots who jump to conclusions. Despite the fact that he knew he would have done the exact same thing had someone entered his house that way.

It took about five minuets but Leiko met him on her front lawn with a glare, "Next times just knock, and for god's sakes do you even know what time it is?"

He nodded, not really paying attention as he picked pieces of glass out of his clothing, "Yes, its five oh eight." At his completely disinterested tone she turned to look at her young teammate and watch him. Her thoughts told her she really shouldn't be so mean to the boy; he was only trying to help.

Her other side wanted to know why he had to help out so god damned _early._ "Urgh… look its good and all that you want to help but maybe you can come later… let us sleep some more?"

He nodded in understanding but didn't bother to reply, she hadn't said how much later so he could be the judge at that. Five minuets sounded like a good amount of extra time to get them. "So how do we get Hachiro-San?"

She looked down on him and grinned, at least he was willing to consider a different policy other then knocking on the door and having him thrown out a window. Maybe he wasn't such a hard ass after all, or maybe he was and was just attempting to be nice.

"Are you going to tell me that the _great_ Himiloh doesn't have a plan?" He glared at her for a moment before shrugging, "Well I do but I just used it to get you. Will his family react the same way?" She thought for a moment, before shrugging herself. "If we get caught, luckily though only one of his siblings that is a shinobi is at home right now so it should be okay."

He nodded, she obviously knew more about their teammate then he, for other then the fact that he had assumed that Hachiro had siblings simply because he had the name of 'eighth son' he didn't know how many. "All right, I'll follow your lead then. Since you probably know his home better."

She nodded, grumbling about idiots who just had to add in qualifiers. Looking around the house for the moment she climbed to the roof finding the window that was repeatedly broken and opening it. It was time to play sneaky and see if they couldn't get their hands on a large red headed boy.

They did, but it took a little bit more then either was expecting.

The two genin had snuck into the house and moving through it had found Hachiro's room, far to the back of a hallway and up one flight of stairs. It had all been peachy and easy, and Hachiro who was pleased with being woken in a somewhat civilized manner (even if it was early) was in a tolerable mood.

However it went downhill from their for about the time that they had started to sneak back out Hachiro's father was stepping out of his room. Izur faintly heard a squeak from Leiko before the man's state of undress managed to make it through his brain.

In an attempt to block out the image of a grown man with nothing on Izur shut his eyes, only to learn that even a civilian can be dangerous to a shinobi, if they let their guard down. Hachiro took the first hit from his father's brawny arms, and Leiko was hurled down the hallway, Izur however managed to realize that despite the nightmares it was better then being hurt.

Still those nightmares were going to suck. He opened his eyes with no time to react he took a fist strait to the forehead, but his Hitae-ate protected him. It produced a slight ringing sensation but he held his ground reaching up he grabbed the mans wrist pulling him forwards and kneeing him in the gut.

A moment later he was running down the hall grabbing his teammate's arms and bodily dragging them to their exit.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

That had happened over an hour ago and now as Izur sat with said teammates in the same predicament as yesterday it caused him to sigh. It seemed that he was forever doomed to teammates who would be mad in the morning.

The three looked up upon hearing their sensei speak; none of them had even realized his approach. "Early as usual I see, maybe I'll just make us have training from five in the morning onwards. Seems like you three are eager enough for it."

The sudden shaking of heads that came from two of his Genins required a chuckle to come from him, and he didn't fail to produce. "Anyways we won't fight today like we did yesterday. The three of you have already proved your abilities in that department enough for me to move on to the next step."

The sudden amount of attention coming at him from his genin would have been surprising in anyone slightly older then them. "We'll be training in Kinobori no Waza (Act of Tree Walking). I'll give each of you a clone of me and this clone will be there to help teach you until lunch. As well as give you a demonstration."

Izur remained impassive as he followed his sensei to the area the man had designated for him, and turned to watch the demonstration. "You need to concentrate your chakra into your feet. Too much and you'll be forced away from the tree, too little and you'll just slip off."

Izur nodded, it made sense after all, kind of like the whole 'gravity' think. Enough gravity and you can suck things in towards you and too much you would force them away from you. Or maybe that wasn't quite how it went but oh well.

As Masaru stepped onto the tree he continued to walk up it, as though it were just ground he was walking on. Stopping about halfway up he turned his head to look at the Genin below him. "You'll probably want to get a running start. Use your chakra to mark the height of each step every time."

Izur nodded in understanding, while it would be easier to use a kunai to mark where he was before he fell each time, using his chakra would require him to control it more and it would mark where his feet had been not his hands. It would give a more accurate description of his abilities.

"Out of curiosity, Masaru-Sempai, what will this training help with?" nodding as though he had expected the question the Jounin leaned back against the air in thought. "Simple it develops better chakra control. The feet are one of the areas that is hardest to direct chakra to, when you learn to do that and do it without thought then you have become a true shinobi."

Izur nodded and thinking this to be the end prepared to try and move his way up the tree. "That's not all thought." Izur looked up in surprise, then why had he stopped talking. "In battle you will need to mold your chakra quickly without taking the amount of time you do now."

Izur paused, having not considered this bit of the training. "When you can do this to perfection then your jutsus will also become more efficient. Now you can begin." Izur looked at Masaru with as much annoyance as he could project without seeming disrespectful.

It wasn't much.

And so the training started, initially Izur found himself trying to use too much chakra and it hadn't taken long for the tree to become riddled with holes. After just under an hour of attempting it with massive amounts of chakra the genin finally began to find a better rhythm.

One that was starting to benefit him more and more by allowing him to get higher by a couple feet every time. At eleven o'clock Izur had made it over half way up the tree, four hours of continuous work had allowed this. But it also meant that his chakra was incredibly low now.

And he probably would not be able to continue on for much longer, despite the fact that he still had an hour left before lunch. Jumping down from the tree he glowered up at it wondering how he might make his body go further up the tree without such a waste of energy.

Instead of hitting on the 'right' idea of using a kunai to mark progress and maybe even taking a short break he instead decided to stop running at the tree. Now he would just walk up it from a stand still. In the first few tries he lost over half the amount of tree that he had covered.

However as his body adjusted to the new technique he began to quickly gain on where he had been previously. Come lunchtime he had increased the amount he could walk up the tree very little but he could now do it from a standstill with few problems.

His problem seemed to be holding onto the technique for a longer period of time. As he trudged off towards his sensei his mind whirled about how he might be able to fix his short comings.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"All right it's back to stealth, ambushing, and tracking training. Same thing as yesterday." Masaru spoke from his position in the tree where he had started from in the morning. He was not prepared for the sudden objection from Leiko.

"But sir we need to master Kinobori no Waza." A grin spread across the Jounins face as he looked down at the female in his team. "Yes you do, but I have given you five hours of training now you need to practice on your own time."

A groan emitted from Izur, but it seemed that Hachiro was taking the entire thing too well. Maybe he had already tried talking to his Masaru clone about this? Or maybe he just seriously didn't care. "You are Kumogakure Shinobi you must learn to focus and master many things at once or you will fail. Now to continue, I want you to track…"

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

The team wasn't released until eight o'clock that night having had to track varying animals or items by small scents or clues. Plus having had to sneak up on Masaru and ambush him after they had tried that. The trio was tired but they had one silver lining to this day, tomorrow wouldn't be as busy.

For it was considered to be their day off, for as much as that mattered to Genin who had many things to master still. "All right you three need to be at the gates at four in the morning on Thursday. Don't be late we leave for a mission."

With that their sensei disappeared to do whatever a Jounin did when he didn't need to be with his charges. Sighing Izur headed off towards his home, already planning on what he should do tomorrow. "Hey Izur?" The voice of Hachiro caused him to turn and look at the two with raised eyebrows.

"Would you mind grabbing us both at three on Thursday so that we aren't late?" nodding Izur headed off, wondering why he felt so much better. Shrugging it off his mind he went back to regimenting his day as precisely as possible. Starting off with wake at three in the morning.

And so he did, right at three the boy hopped out of bed heading off to wash and get ready to head down to the training grounds. Once he was dressed he went down stairs surprised to see his father already at the table with two meals set out. "Thought you'd be up boy."

Izur nodded in response sliding into his seat and starting to dig in, he hadn't even been aware that his father had come back from his mission yet. His father stood at an above average height of six foot four, and from what the genin had been told his mother had been almost as tall as well.

So the reason for his shortness was unknown and a certain amount of disappointment to the boy. His father had the same thick black hair that he had only it was longer, and poofy. It stuck out like he had been electrocuted (looking similar to the Niidaime Hokage's hair only black). However despite the amount of muscle such a large frame could carry, it didn't.

His father was a lean man, wearing a well toned amount of muscle built for speed and stealth. Something that could sneak into somewhere and back out without ever having been notice. It was the typical build of a Himiloh and one Izur figured he would fallow in.

"You listening boy?" his father's gruff tenor pulled him out of his thoughts and he looked over swallowing his food before responding, "Yes Sir." A sharp nod told him his father was pleased and for the first time ever Izur saw his father look unsure.

"Well to put it simply boy… the Raikage is having me remarry." Izur blinked suddenly, it wasn't unheard of especially for a clan like the Himiloh's. The Raikage could tell any person to marry another as long as both were shinobi. To force a shinobi-civilian marriage he would have to get the approval of the council.

But there was always a good reason, mainly because the clan needed an heir. But this clan _had_ and heir.

"But… why?" shrugging the man held up one finger and started to list the points. "Apparently there is trouble brewing and they have need of our… technique. Also with only one child and me left he's worried that an unfortunate accident could wipe the blood line out completely. Finally he believes it will strengthen ties between us and Kirigakure if we have this marriage."

Izur nodded, looking skeptically at his father who had just admitted that it was not a marriage to someone within the village. "So, to whom then?" Debating with himself on whether or not to reply, his father finally spoke again. "To a widowed woman from Kirigakure, she has one son. Her name is Sukizo Anzu and she'll be bringing her only son with her. Erm I think they said his name was Ureshii."

Izur thought silently on what he had been told, this would mean that he would be have a sibling. As odd as that was to him it paled in comparison to having a person he would have to call 'mother'. A word so foreign on his tongue he had maybe uttered it three times in his life.

"So will they keep their name or carry ours, Father?" His father grinned at the question it was something to be considered. "She will change hers and become Himiloh Anzu, the boy however will continue on his fathers name here as a Sukizo clan here. Apparently their clan is well placed in Kirigakure, enough to gain attention for this such as ours."

Izur nodded standing up as he did so he took the dishes out to wash them. "When?" He missed the frown on his fathers face as he asked this. "Six months." Nodding again the boy turned to leave but hesitated at the door. "This Ureshii, is he a shinobi?" Now he saw the full force of his fathers grin and could not possibly mistake it.

"He was in the Kirigakure Academy, that's why we have to wait six months. To find out if he will pass or not, if he does we will put him on a genin squad here if not he will continue his schooling at our academy. He's twelve."

Izur nodded leaving his father to go back to bed; it had been obvious that the man had been awake only for him.

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Over six hours later, at nine o'clock in the morning Izur was working diligently on his chakra control by attempting to walk up the same tree he had been at yesterday. It had not been going well initially but finally around six o'clock in the morning he had finally found a breakthrough and exploited it.

Having walked completely up the tree he'd had yesterday he'd moved onto a much larger one working on refining his new found control to a much better point. It was about this time that he was interrupted. By a familiar and yet still irritating voice.

"So you can't even walk up trees yet. How pathetic!" Kobayashi Arai's voice grated through Izur's ears until it finally made contact with his ear drums allowing him to hear his new rival's words.

Turning, while maintaining his position on the tree he looked down at the slightly older boy with a raised eyebrow. "And you can?" A sneer was his only answer, but even Arai would not enter into a competition with his tree walking skills just yet. Not until after his father had finished with him later that day that was.

"Rather petty of you, isn't it Izur-Baka? No worries though my sensei has already begun to teach us new techniques and even just one of them would scorch you alive. Literally." Izur rose an eyebrow wondering if he should point out that learning a bunch of techniques was pointless if you couldn't use them right.

Deciding not to stretch the tension any farther however, he chose a better course of action. "Really? Well why don't you just show me how _scorching_ it can be then." Arai clenched his teeth but his hands flashed through a series of seals that ended with the tiger seal and Izur realizing his danger pushed off from the tree immediately.

It wasn't, however, soon enough fro the Housenka technique allowed the user to spread the flames and one nicked Izur's armor leaving a large scorch mark and lighting the attached material on fire briefly.

Landing with a slight thud, he growled under his breath inspecting the damage and ignoring the sneer from his rival. "Well that wasn't really very hot at all. Thought you said I'd be scorched?" The sudden flash of anger through Arai's face told Izur he may have pushed too much.

"I'll show you, you…" The genin never finished his threat for around that time another one appeared glaring at his younger teammate. "We've been summoned Arai-San, so if your done playing around?" A flash of annoyance went across the young boys face but he turned to Izur before following his teammate.

"You'd better watch it, I won't forget your insult." shrugging Izur waved him off focusing back on his tree, to at least try and get back to work.

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He left the training grounds at noon, feeling like he'd actually accomplished something. Maybe he had not perfected the technique but two more days with about the same amount of training time and he felt confident that he would have it down.

Now deciding that he should regard himself for his hard work over the last few days, he headed off towards one of the cheaper restaurants to spend his well earned mission money.

As he was sitting down to order he turned as a baritone called his name out, catching sight of his two teammates walking down the road together he lifted his arm in acknowledgment. It took several minuets before they sat down to join them and both wrinkled their noses at him.

"You stink." Was Hachiro's simple response to the smell, Leiko simply had to be more emphatic about it. "What in hells name have you been doing? Crawling through a sewer?" Shaking his head he prepared to answer her only to be interrupted by the waitress.

Ordering his food and drink he turned back to her, "No, I've been working on the technique Masaru-Sempai showed us since four o'clock this morning. Or thereabouts." The look of incredulity on his female teammates face threatened to have him break out into laughter, but he hid it convincingly enough by coughing.

"Is that all you do? Live to be a shinobi? Sheesh, we need to get you out more." Blinking as though he didn't understand but, deciding not to push the issue he decided to change the subject. "So why are you two always together?" The way he said it showed that he was not insinuating anything and for that the two pre-teens were thankful.

Though they never got a chance to respond because apparently, today was interrupt Izur day.

Kobayashi Arai and his team had been making their way towards Izur when they had recognized him and now Izur held up a halting hand to his teammates as he stood to face them. Unsure of weather they were a threat or not he prepared himself.

"So what's this? The great Izur-Baka is out eating, and with people. I was under the impression that your lack of manners would prevent something this civilized." Arai did not miss the stiffening of the other two genin but he did miss the sudden wary glances that the customers in the restaurant were throwing him.

"Do we have a problem Kobayashi-San?" The sudden cold politeness of Izur's tenor warned his teammates that there was a problem but that he was at least trying to prevent something from happening on anywhere but the training grounds. This was smart of him, considering the punishment for fighting in the village.

"Oh you bet you we do Himiloh-Baka." Izur stiffened at the sudden insult to his family's name, to attack it to his given name was to call him, personally, stupid. But it attack it to his families name was to call his family stupid. "If you don't wish to duel, on the training grounds then I suggest you take your insult back Kobayashi."

Grinning Arai jammed his hands into his pockets and spoke, with a confident swagger unbecoming of a Genin. "Why not here, or are you too much of a coward to do so? Or no maybe you won't fight here because your entire _family_ is made of cowards and you know it to be true."

The tenuous strings holding Izur's temper in place to his thoughts snapped at the insult and he moved at the same time. The only thing that saved the other boy, as was said later, was that he had Kunai in his pockets and had been prepared for the attack. Just not quite for its feriousity or strength.

Izur's fist connected with Arai's mouth, then his knee came up making contact with his chin, about then Arai had gotten his hands out of his pockets slashing at Izur with them wildly. One managed to hit and drag through his upper arm cutting through flesh and muscle even going down to nick to bone.

But in his bone deep fury he failed to notice the potentially fatal wound. Grabbing Arai's neck he spun him hurling him through the buildings wall and out into the street, and he started after him. But made it no more then three steps before Arai's teammates finally reacted.

He hit several times from the other two genin before his attention refocused on them and he started in on them. A fist to the mouth, a leg in the gut, a knee in the private parts and finally a solid grip on one of their necks. And as he squeezed intending to drop the other boy dead by suffocating him he was pulled back by strong arms.

He fought for a moment against the restraining arms until the scent registered as Masaru's and he stopped glaring at the three other Genin. He started to notice the slight throb in his arm and various other placed, but he took pleasure in watching the blonde haired Jounin restrain his still fighting apprentice.

The entire fight had lasted less then thirty seconds and caused several thousand dollars in damage.

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Himiloh Izur, Oonishi Hachiro, Fukazawa Leiko, Kobayashi Arai, and his two teammates (whose names he hadn't learned) stood in the Raikages eyes. Izur wondered why his teammates were there and tried to ignore the burning feeling of his still throbbing wound.

"You six are a disgrace to the Kumogakure Village. A fight over a petty squabble such as that, ri-fucking-diculous. I should take all of your tittles away and give them to more honorable children."

Arai scoffed, and the Raikage whirled no him but before he could say anything Izur spoke up, suddenly fearing that his actions may have cost Hachiro and Leiko dearly. "Raikage-Sama, I beg forgiveness. Not for myself, for I have acted wrong but for dishonoring my teammates who have done nothing wrong. _For they did not enter this petty brawl._"

The emphasis on his last sentence was not lost on the Raikage and he turned on the youngest Genin glaring at him for a full minute before speaking again. "But neither did they attempt to restrain you when you attacked, either. And you had damned well better hope that this doesn't ruin the Marriage Proposal with Kirigakure either or I _will_ have your head. _Do you understand me?"_

Izur froze momentarily, but nodded to the man. Not trusting his voice for fear that it may quaver in his sudden fear. "Good. Now onto business, you will all receive the customary fifty lashes for this. However you Izur and you two will get twenty five extra for the fight. And you Arai will get an extra fifty for provoking it."

The ending sentence had washed the smirk off of Arai's face; he'd seemed to think that he would get off without any extra. But no, the Raikage had gotten the entire conversation from the witnesses. And all were agreed that while Izur had thrown the first punch he had been provoked beyond all reasonable standards.

It wasn't until much later that Izur realized how lucky he was to have gotten away with so few.

**Next Chapter: **Of Removing Things  
**Chapter Overview:** The team goes on their next set of missions, this time to a farm far away from the village. They'll have to do plenty of fun and _intersting_ things. So stick in for the latest update in Shattered Dreams.


	13. Training Arc: Removals & Additions

Shattered Dream

_**Shattered Dream**_

_**Disclaimer: **_I do not own any forms of Naruto, sadly else I wouldn't be writing this right now. I do however own Izur, cause I like him… you can have Hachiro, Masaru, Arai, and Leiko if you want but Izur's mine.

_**Notes:**_ Okay hope you like, and Ahh –whistles- no one kill me for the little erm illegal action I have one of my characters doing. Just know that I do not and never will condone it but it was a crucial part of his character building and for later erm things. So if you must complain I have resigned myself to accepting it.

_**Chapter 13: Of Removing Things**_

They were tired. No scratch that tired just didn't begin to explain what they felt but it didn't seem that Masaru cared. In fact Izur would have _sworn_ that the man was laughing in his own head.

Growling lowly Izur sped up slightly until he was walking farther in front of his team then before. After the… flogging yesterday he felt like he could barely move the individual parts of his body. Each one had gone numb by now so that he no longer could feel the extreme pain but it was there.

And thus it meant that his fighting capabilities were diminished by the fact that his body erupted into an explosion of pain when anything was strained too much. Plus he knew that Hachiro and Leiko had to be filling similar, and they were probably pissed because of what his actions had caused them.

Apparently the saying you reap what you sow did not apply to this case.

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They'd been walking for thirty minuets by this point and the sun had already risen, but the heat from it failed to warm up the four shinobi. Izur had finally screwed up the courage to apologize to his teammates for his foolish actions yesterday.

Hachiro had shrugged as though to say he didn't mind, but Leiko seemed to be holding a grudge for the moment. Their sensei, well he still found the entire situation amusing especially because of what Arai had done.

For he had faced off against Arai's team leader, a man named Tanaka in much the same way that Izur had been provoked into a fight against his rival. The only saving grave for him was that he'd been on the training grounds when he fought Tanaka. And, Arai and his two teammates had been in the shadows watching.

When he'd heard hat had happened with his team he'd hunted the man down and dealt him a new scar with his kunai leaning over him he'd spoken softly to the man. "Monkey see, Monkey Do. Right? Take this as a warning; I'll kill you if you ever provoke my team again."

And he'd left the man to think of that, for he was neither highly placed nor a very skilled Jounin either.

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At five o'clock they had _finally_ reached the damned farm, and it stank. Izur and his teammates wished that maybe they could have taken just a little bit longer in getting here. At least then they wouldn't have this eternally annoying crap smell in their nostrils now.

The three genin's look boredly at their client, wondering if he could possibly look any weirder. The man was short, maybe five foot one on a good day. He had one long handle bar mustache as well that he kept twirling on one hand. His hair was a kind of brown bleached blonde, bordering more to a bright dirty blonde. His eyes were an uncustomary black.

He was stocky as well looking almost like a little barrel that didn't hold enough liquid. Finally was his outfit, he wore blue overalls with dirt stained white t-shirt underneath and mid level shin high black and tan cowboy boots. The Genins had to struggle not to laugh at him.

"So yawl the ninja that're here ta help?" Masaru stepped forwards having slight trouble understanding his southern accent, "Yes, these three will be the ones that work." Nodding the man directed his attention at them, getting to look down on Izur but knowing that the other two were taller then he.

"Sawl righty then." He inspected them for a moment before continuing, "Yawl will have seven jobs to finish before you leave at six. First is gelding them stallions out over there. We have about a hundred and eighty but I only expect you three to do thirty each and you'll need to be done by nine, understand?"

The two males had gone considerably paler at this information. They were going to cut off some poor horse's balls. This is not what they had signed up for at the academy. Leiko on the other hand looked entirely too pleased with this statement, in fact she looked pleased enough that the rancher looked uncomfortable.

"Anyways, second jobs goin to be to clean all the barns, there are only thirty of them so three each. Next will be going around and feeding each of the animals, got enough for each of you to have to feed about two hundred animals or so. All that will have to be done before noon, then you can break to lunch."

Izur started to think about ways he could get back at their sensei or the Raikage, because _this_ was ridiculous. Someone had some kind of obsession with animals or else they had an obsession with dirty jobs.

"Next you'll go out and herd all them Yak's in here, after that you'll go where we keep all the newborn babes and their mothers and you'll do work out their as well. Finally you'll have to do the same with the Bison. Each time you finish a job come back here I'll explain the next. Horses are over to the left, got a man there to talk to you."

As he finished talking the three Genins started off, looking to be in a state of shock and wondering who was vicious enough to classify this as a D ranked mission. Grumbling they meandered their way to a much taller copy of their client, and had to do double takes to make sure the man wasn't on stilts.

"Howdy, I'm here to explain how to geld these here horses. Its simple, first you'll need to restrain the horse. You'll probably have to wrestle it to the ground first. Next we'll need you to knock it out by inserting one of these here needles into the animal's neck veins. Then you will use some of these handy dandy bacterial wash and wash the surgical area."

By this time even Leiko was debating whether or not they should allow their Teams sensei to live. "Don't want to start an infection now do we? After that you'll need to make a surgical incision at the base of where the balls connect to the horse. Then you'll have to squeeze until it pops out."

At this point Izur damn near threw up, and his face had gone a pasty colored form of white, he could also tell that this man was enjoying this. "Then you use this handy dandy tool, we call it an emasculator. You place it to the attached skin that holds the ball to the skin that holds it to the horse. This will cut off blood flow to the spermatic cord and prevent the horse from bleeding to death."

The man seemed to be getting even more please with himself the more he explained it. This could also be because the genin's looked sicker and sicker every moment. "Finally you cut it just below the emasculator and repeat with the other ball. We've split the horses into pens that hold thirty each, with an attached pen where you can do your work. Any questions?"

Before anyone could say anything else Izur moved stealing the required tools from the taller man and walking off, his face had yet to go back to its normal color. Plus he was _not_ going to listen to anymore of that. Now was the time to take out the horses and snip away, right?

Well he wasn't about to attempt to tackle all those brutes by himself, and his previous lesson with a mission had taught him to value his Rai Bunshins. Forming the seals he created thirty Rai Bunshins, after all the faster he got this done with the better. Right?

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Izur had quickly found out that it was impossible to try and do all thirty at once so he took to assigning three to each horse, which meant he could only do ten at a time but that was still far faster then Hachiro and Leiko.

He had first jumped the horse knocking it down with the three clones and then put the needle in its neck knocking it out. From there he had drug the thing out of the large pen into the slightly smaller one and proceeded to wash it.

From there he had then made the incision mark with his kunai, now the first time he'd done this and squeezed the… thing (he couldn't bring himself to think about it by the real name) it had squirted at him.

From which point he had found himself spitting out whatever had come out him and silently cursing and promising that man his very slow and very painful death for not warning him. It had however, gone slightly easier after that. Once he got into a form of mind about not thinking about what he was doing that was.

Even with the clones to help him it still took a good two hours before he finished all thirty of his horses and he felt bed for the horses as well. As he watched them try to stand up and wobble about after the surgery they seemed, somehow less to him.

Shaking his head he dispersed ten of his clones instructing, ten of the remaining twenty to go and help Leiko while he and the other nine went to help Hachiro. He couldn't be with a female who had looked so… interested at the prospect of this mission. It would hurt his male pride too much.

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The team had finished, with the help of Izur and his clones a good hour before they were supposed and set off to go and get the explanation of their next job given to them. As they were walking Hachiro seemed to have reached some sort of epiphany.

"Hey Izur, I don't think your going to need to help me anymore." Turning to look at his teammate with a raised eyebrow Izur was about to voice his obvious 'why' question but Leiko beat him to it. "Because, I'm going to use my Mizu Bunshins from now on. I've finally mastered it enough to use ten without too much trouble, I'd just forget about it until I saw you with your Rai Bunshins."

Nodding in understanding Izur looked at Leiko and hesitated a moment before speaking. "Uhm I think we should each share one technique with each other." Leiko turned to look at him now with a raised eyebrow before motioning her to continue on. "Well that way I can teach you Rai Bunshin and Hachiro could teach you Mizu Bunshin but then we each learn something from you and then each other at the same time."

Nodding Hachiro thought about it for a moment, "Yea I could teach you Mizu Bunshin and you teach me Rai then we'd have…" Izur cut him off with a slightly sheepish grin and he spoke quickly. "I already know it."

The 'what' caused several animals to look up startled at the team. "I already know it… maybe if you could teach me one of those earth techniques you have. It's the only thing not in my arsenal."

Nodding Hachiro agreed to it and both boys turned to look at Leiko and she nodded, just less enthusiastically. "I'll teach you both Katon Housenka, that way you can do multiple things with it not just fire it." Izur nodded with a grin on his face that it was impossible to miss."

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That had so far been the best part of this day, the three had split again after the little rancher had told them that they needed to clean out each box making sure that no manure or spare food was left in their and then to lay down straw to make it comfortable again. Then when they finished they could immediately go to the little shed and feed the animals.

That had been three hours ago and now as the trio trudged back to the front gate to meet the man he stood grinning oddly at them. "You lot sure are efficient." Nodding their acknowledgements to the compliment they sat down with backs against fence posts waiting to be told what nasty job they had next.

"Well the lots of you are free till twelve; meet me here at that time." Izur watched him walk away and looked at his two teammates grinning. "I think we should get started now." With a nod from the others Izur jumped up. "Okay, for Rai Bunshin you…"

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And so they trained, Izur showing Leiko the seals to harness the Rai Bunshin then explaining the concept behind it. He also wrote it all down on an empty scroll that she had and explained any questions. Hachiro did the same thing with the Mizu Bunshin, occasionally calling on Izur to help him clarify some point.

Then Hachiro had sat down with Izur and explained to him how to use Doton Doro Gaeshi. This was a defensive technique, after getting the explanation and a demonstration Leiko sat down with them and explained the mysteries behind the Katon Housenka.

It had taken just under thirty minuets to get all the explaining and writing done but now each possessed the knowledge at least to do two new moves. Now though the boys agreed that teaching Leiko a Bunshin jutsu was the best and since there were two of them with knowledge of Mizu Bunshin they decided on that. And coached her ruthlessly for the rest of the half hour that they had.

By twelve she hadn't been able to form anything beyond the feet and shins but at least she waking some form of progress and they were forced to stop their training to turn at the little ranchers approach. "Ah, we've made lunch for yawl as well if you want." Nodding them following him back to his home, at least they wouldn't have to eat the bad mission food they had.

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An hour later they stood glaring at some kind of weird long haired animal that they were supposed to herd into the smaller pens and then check their gender, make sure that their pelts were clean, and then pull out said pelts with a brush and put the fur in a bag.

Then they had to go out to the 'Baby Herd' and catch the entire baby Yaks, bring them in, weigh them, and return them to the mother. And if that wasn't enough they had to do it all before three o'clock.

Izur sighed glaring at the Yaks in front of him, it had been decided that he would handle all the herding, and then cleaning, and then removing of the fur and putting them back with his thirty some odd clones. While he was doing that Hachiro and his ten clones along with Leiko would catch baby Yaks and get that over with in the hopes that they could finish in time.

And the icing on the cake, Masaru had threatened them with worse punishment then they had received as of yet if they didn't deliver on time. Growling Izur set in with his thirty clones forcing the yaks around a turn and making them head for the pens, it wasn't hard just boring.

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They were in the smaller pens now and as Izur glared at the first Yak in the smallest pen he started to run his hands over it along with four other clones. It took only a minute to clean it and then he had a clone check the gender, it was male. As he was about to start the brushing the animal bucked to the side knocking him back.

Grumbling he remembered that caution might be a little bit more helpful. Now it was time to brush and pull the cashmere like material out of the animals skin hoping to fill lots and lots of the little white bags he had been given.

While he and the four clones were doing that he had designated five clones for one Yak and each group would catch a yak bring it in and start the same process so that he had six Yaks going through at once. There were only a hundred and twenty Yaks so how hard could it possibly be?

Stupid, stupid question to ask of dumb animals that only want to make life harder.

As Izur was going through his twelfth Yak had found that he had been spoiled so far. Because this one liked to roll and it didn't much care what it rolled in because the damn thing reeked of crap and piss. Grabbing a hose he started to spray the animal off, which only served to make the crap soggy and damn near impossible to get out.

By the time he had finished with that little female in came another of the two thousand pound beasts and he sighed gripping its horns and forcing it through into the gate that would hold its head. Today was just long ass day that was only getting worse.

Silently the boy prayed that a break would come his way but a half hour later as he was yanking another Animal into position he heard a shout of pain and turned to watch one of his clones disappear and drench the animal that had speared him. He thanked whatever god that had given him the common sense to use Mizu Bunshins instead of Rai Bunshins.

He created another clone from the remains of the last and glared at them all to get back to work.

Today sucked, that was the simplest way to explain it.

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Izur had been roughly pulling the brush through the animal's hair, and in retaliation the brute kicked at him every time, two clones had already been destroyed because of the Yak's violence and this only served to infuriate the young genin more.

"You know if you don't treat it so roughly it wouldn't be so violent." Izur whipped around glowering at the young man from earlier who had explained how to geld the horses. Snorting the genin motioned to the Yak, "Then you get less hair off of it and the mission objective was to collect as much hair as possible."

The teenager stared at the shinobi and laughed out right at him; shaking his head he pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and lit it up. "That's great and all but I highly doubt my father meant for you to get _this_ much. Plus what's the point in being so dedicated to this, it doesn't get you anything much."

Izur had stiffened when the older male had reached into his pocket but now he was staring at him quizzically. What was that odd smelling white thing in his mouth? "Simple, I am a shinobi of Kumogakure by doing this mission to the best of my abilities I spread the name and prestige of Kumogakure. Err… what is that thing?"

Izur had ditched his clones, letting them finish with the Yak, glad for any reason to escape the slave labor. But at his question the teenager seemed to go slightly bug eyes. "You kidding me, kid? You don't know what a cigarette is?" shaking his head, the look of incredulity on the older mans face changed to disbelief.

"Well my little friend I will just have to introduce you to them. Here," The boy reached into his pocket handing Izur one of the slim white sticks. "Now just inhale once its lit and exhale when you need to. You may…" The other boy didn't have a chance to explain as Izur did what was said only to start in on a coughing fit immediately afterwards.

"Cough. Kind of odd at first but it gets better, plus it adds in a relaxed, dangerous atmosphere to a person." Raising his eyebrows and shrugging Izur tried the inhaling thing again, and managed (if just barely) not to cough. He didn't see what was so relaxing or dangerous about having some smoking white stick in your mouth.

But then again he wasn't exactly known for his sense of fashion or well anything. Plus the way he saw it the heat from this tip of the stick could be used to light one of his techniques up and make it more useful.

Not only that but he had a couple of ideas that he would be willing to try out with the thing. And to think all he would have to do was add to very light weight items to his arsenal and he may have upped his abilities as a shinobi by at least five percent. The thought had his spirits soaring.

"Thanks, I could use these for some of my techniques. Know where I can get more?" The teenager looked dumb founded for a moment, he'd never heard of someone using a cigarette as a fighting weapon but whatever floated the kid's boat. "Uhm yea, here take a pack, the vendors name and address is on the carton."

Nodding as he accepted the pack, he slipped it into his packet just as another clone was killed. Giving a half wave he turned around and headed back towards his clones. "Thanks a bunch, you just helped improve my fighting capabilities for Kumogakure." Again the teenager blinked, these kids from that city sure were weird. Maybe it was a good thing he'd grown up out here.

Now he could say that he at least wasn't brainwashed about fighting capabilities and such.

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The team had started in on the Bison the same way with the Yaks only this time Izur had to go and find the babies and then place them back with their mothers. It had taken nearly everything in his arsenal of anger management techniques not to kill the whole lot of them.

And he does still barely succeed and he was of the opinion that he absolutely hated farm animals at the moment. First pigs, then cows, then horses, then Yaks, and now freaking Bison. What the hell was next? Freaking water buffalo? Growling the young boy glared at their client, it was six o'clock and he was _tired_ and impatient and angry.

And this guy insisted on keeping them longer to talk to them and comment on Izur's new addition to his outfit. He had been mildly surprised at Hachiro and Leiko's response to the white sticks but once he had finally gotten to explain his reasons they'd seemed to sigh in defeat.

Masaru had laughed when he saw his student, who had at the time been mimicking the rancher's son's posture with the stick and trying to make it look like he knew what he was doing. Finally though, they got to leave and it was about damned time too.

Hachiro refused to speak to the Rancher or his son simply because they had given Izur the 'Cancer Sticks' as he called them. But then Izur didn't know what cancer was so he'd taken to just saying C Stick in order to make it simpler. Leiko was annoyed but she found the thoughts on Izur's new jutsus with the Cigarettes entertaining and she demanded that he show her whatever they were as well.

He'd agreed, if only to save himself.

When they had gotten back into Kumo Masaru stopped them and spoke. "Today's missions counted as 6. Gelding the horses, cleaning and feeding the animals, getting Yak fur, tagging Yak animals, getting Bison fur, and tagging Bison's, those were each of the missions. Tomorrow we go on another mission meet at the gates at six am, and don't be late."

The three had answered feeling rather proud of themselves. As they watched their sensei disappear Izur turned to his teammates and spoke before they could leave. "We should train until ten o'clock since we get extra sleep. That way we can improve our techniques and get better missions. Cause, maybe you guys don't think so but I'm of the opinion that these missions reek."

He got assenting nods from both of his teammates and as they headed off towards the training grounds they entered into deep technical talks about how to do their new jutsu. And what progress each other had made on the Tree Climbing techniques.

Getting out of these horrible missions was their number one goal at the moment. Little did they know that they were in for the worst of their life.

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**Next Chapter: **A Warm Meal

**Info: **Izur and company go on their worst mission next and when things escalate so far that they have to eat in these horrible conditions mutiny is contemplated. How will the Genins handle their steadily deteriorating respect for shinobi missions?


	14. Training Arc: Crap, Rodents, & Gators

Shattered Dreams

_**Shattered Dreams**_

_**Notes: **_All righty then, this is A Warm Meal for all of you loyal readers. –Ahem- also if you have any suggestions/questions/complaints feel free to tell me I could probably use all the help I can get. Also in later chapters I intend to show Naruto but I have been debating on whether or not to put him 'in character' as a dead last or to maybe let him be stronger and a bit smarter. Not a super powered Naruto thing, but a _better_ Naruto. Just a quick question for anyone who wants to add their input. Now that I've typed your eyes off, TO THE STORY!

_**Chapter 14: A Warm Meal**_

Training last night had gone well, they had made progress in everything and it looked like with a bit more work they would all be able to tree walk without too many problems. Not only that it seemed that Leiko would be able to use at least five clones for short periods of time.

While not exactly the best situation it was far better then it just being her alone, and with Hachiro's improvement of his clones it made them a far better force. Izur and Hachiro's progress into the technique that Leiko was teaching them was… minimal to say the best. It was obvious that the two males of the team didn't have an affinity for fire type techniques.

Both were, however, damned if they would ever admit that. Now though it was time for their next mission and as Izur and company moved towards the gates to await their teacher a low grumbling could be heard. "I still don't get why we've gotten all these sick and twisted missions."

Leiko's voice was a low whisper but the defiance and disgust in it was easily heard. "I know, but I mean I think Masaru-Sensei has a reason for this. At least I hope he does, other then to make us miserable." Izur nodded to his taller teammate's words, already planning painful things to do to that man if this was just for his enjoyment.

"You know if everything's been bad so far, what do you think today will be like?" Leiko's fist came down, hard, on Izur's head for that little input. "Damn you and your pessimism." Rubbing his head he snorted in disdain at her words.

But it was slightly muffled because he still hadn't worked out how to do it right around the C Sticks.

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Just over a half an hour later the team had finally set out with their teacher, though rather then heading out from Kumogakure like they had expected they'd turned right immediately out of the gates and followed the wall. This had the kids wondering more and more what might be up with where they were going and what they might have to do.

So far every one of their missions had been outside the gates of Kumogakure, but they'd all headed well away from the village for them to work. Maybe they were actually going to get a break for once.

When Pigs fly.

As the team neared their destination a distinctly familiar and disgusting smell entered into their noses. Izur grimaced as he realized what the smell was and he began to pray silently that this was not going to be what he thought it was. As the team slowed Izur started to panic a bit on the inside, he didn't know if he could handle the closeness of this smell with his enhanced nose.

Maybe if he'd gotten his families other trait of oh maybe enhanced eyes or enhanced hearing but no he'd gotten the freaking nose and now he had this mission. Growling as he looked at the large silver tube that could fit two people of Masaru's height on top of the other through it and twice that in width.

Masaru grinned mischievously as he turned to them and started to speak. "I really think this is our best mission yet, and I'm prepared to bet that you guys would love this mission the most." All three could hear the laughter and sarcasm in his voice and it had them all thinking that maybe, just maybe the man was doing this on purpose.

"Anyways this set of mission is to help clean the sewers." The groan from Hachiro told them he had been hoping like hell that this was just some kind of sick joke. "Anyways here's some radio's so that you guys can stay in contact with me." Masaru pulled out four sets of radio's that could be easily hidden in a person's ear.

And this set the three genin to thinking and soon realizing that it meant Masaru wasn't going in with them. He'd be out here the entire time, enjoying the _fresh_ air. Growling the three put the radios in their ears and Izur made sure that his wouldn't get wet even if he somehow found himself submerged.

"Good, I'll call you guys at noon. Until then you have to go in their and… look for any thing that isn't body waste. Have fun." Masaru jumped away from them putting a lot of room between him and the horrible smelling tube.

Grumbling Izur started to mumble about Jounin's who had sick and twisted minds and needed to have the sticks pulled out of their asses. As the three looked at the tube Hachiro cracked a joke, "At least we shouldn't have any problems making Mizu Bunshins, right?"

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They'd been working for hours now, they didn't know exactly how long but they were sure it should be close to noon soon and they had amassed a massive amount of trash that people flushed down their toilets. And thrown up anything they had, had in their stomachs.

The trio had created clones to fan out and work as well to at least try and finish this disgusting job, so as Izur stepped down another corridor in the sewer looking around he frowned. Setting down it and watching the murky water below him trying not to think about whose shit he was currently wading through.

And swearing that he would find some way to get even with Masaru for this… indignity.

He turned as he heard sloshing foot steps approaching; he was far enough away from the bend that he wasn't worried until Hachiro didn't stop running when he rounded the bend. Not only that but he wasn't even looking forwards, Izur's eyes widened suddenly as he opened his mouth to yell at his teammate to stop.

He unfortunately never got the chance and it turned out to have been a mistake to open his mouth as his friend smashed into his chest. Shutting his eyes and sending the same order to his open mouth he hit the water hard with a splash and Hachiro did the same both boys spluttered as they launched out of the water.

And hit their heads on the top of the small tube. Growling from deep within his throat he turned and glared at Hachiro and saw the reason the other boy had been running and his eyes had widened. There was an alligator staring at him and Hachiro, Izur reacted as quickly as possible by reaching into his kunai pouch and throwing the weapon and pinning the animal to the ground.

The animal thrashed around the Kunai its jaws forced closed. Izur turned now, on his teammate, "Why were you running from some little thing like this?" Hachiro wasn't looking at Izur however he was staring down the rest of the sewer pipe and he spoke quickly. "Because it wasn't alone, there was about forty with this one alone."

Izur froze in his spot and started to scan the tube as well, for the moment however it looked like they were home free. "Okay, then maybe you should apologize before we get over run." Hachiro looked at Izur for a moment wondering what he was talking about and then he blushed as he took in his teammate's appearance.

And realized his own was just as bad. "Yeah… sorry about that I was just trying to… sorry?" Shaking his head through irritation Izur turned and started off the way he had been going, to day was going to be a bad day.

No scratch that, today had been bad already it was a disastrous day.

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The three Genins had finally met up again after having been through the entire sewer, well counting their clones. And as they pulled they're information together they realized that at least twenty clones had been killed by the alligators and Hachiro was the only one whose real body had made contact with them.

Sighing the team decided that now was a good time to contact Masaru and find out the time. "Masaru-Sempai this is Izur, time check. Over." Out in the sunlight Masaru had long since fallen asleep the young voice in his ear startled him awake. "Eh… oh right its twelve forty eight. Over."

The angry 'what' that came over the intercom from all three genin's nearly blew out his ear drum and he was in the process of rubbing it. "Well then can we come out and eat lunch? Over. " The boy's voice had taken on a deathly even tone that gave away his anger quite well.

"Nope, you won't have time to finish the mission if you do. Eat in the sewer if you're hungry enough." He paused in his speech grinning at the air as he did so. He could hear the cursing of Leiko in the background; she had at least shut off his mike for that.

"Your next mission will be to kill all animals in their including rats, mice, cockroaches the like. Anything that isn't human. Also you'll need to make sure their aren't any blockages anywhere or the potential for them. If there are fix it. Over and out." Izur cut the connection sharply and began to cuss; his teammates stopped their ranting when they listened to him tear into the most private parts of their teacher's life.

"Uh… Izur you all right?" Hachiro's voice seemed to have gone as pale as his voice and the younger boy looked up eyes flashing menacingly. "Fine." He grated out before shaking his head. "You heard so let's finish as quickly as possible so we can get out of here."

They nodded watching Izur stomp off and make clones every couple of seconds that he would send off in different directions with Kunai's at the ready. They also noticed that all of the clones he made were Rai Bunshins; he wasn't just going to kill the animals he was going to torture them if they fought back.

Shrugging the two set off in the opposite direction, there was no way in hell they were eating in this place either. They could already hear the jokes about warm meals that they're family would be saying for weeks if they did.

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Izur had already killed more then four times his weight in animals that lurked in this god forsaken sewer. And he had to trudge around with the stupid things to make sure they didn't block anything up plus he had to trudge around with the trash he had collected earlier.

None of it was light either, well not when put together like this, and he was prone to grumbling about ways to kill bastard Jounins. His clones had killed nearly as much one their own as well so there was a massive pile of dead vermin under Izur's care alone and knowing his teammates they weren't slacking off either.

What had him worried was how vicious those 'gators were and they didn't seem predisposed to dying easily either. From the information he'd gathered there were at least a hundred of them in the sewers. That was more then enough to give the three of them some problems, and it wasn't any easier seeing as how he was so hungry.

Continuing his irritated grumbling he dragged his bags of trash along behind him watching for any sign of movement or raised water. So far he hadn't come any where near any block ups but one of his clones had. Apparently some… fecal matter had clumped together and built up causing an almost perfect blockage a few drains down. Izur had decided that he and three other clones would come and help the one that had found it.

Just in case that was, he didn't want one clone breaking all that down and then being assaulted by the mother hive of 'gators that could hide behind it. So he would go help break dawn a wall of shit and hope that he didn't get too much dirtier. His mind started to wander a bit but a slight rustle in the water and he threw a shuriken watching as blood mixed with the dark brown water. Bending down he picked up his five hundredth rat throwing it in the bag.

Damn rats and roaches were everywhere, and they were hard to find. But apparently they were dangerous to Kumogakure because they carried a lot of diseases on them and could sneak places where no person could go. And Masaru had said that there was any number of dangerous things an enemy village could do to use its rat population against them.

Izur highly doubted that any other village would try and do some of the things that Masaru had thought of but he didn't deny that it was true. He just thought Masaru was telling them that because he didn't want them to complain any more. And it worked; they couldn't argue with the logic of it just why they had to do it.

Izur looked up to see his four clones waiting for him and he motioned for the four to get behind him. Time to use some of those water techniques his father hand been teaching him to 'bust down the dam' so to speak that was. His hands flashed through a series of hand seals and he drew back his hand a long tendril of water forming in it.

He flashed his hand forwards several times the crap wall disintegrating under it and being flown backwards towards whatever lay behind. And then his hand sped up suddenly as dozens of rats, roaches, and alligators rushed through the now broken wall. His clones went to work suddenly as well using their own shinobi techniques and even weapons to try and kill the animals.

However they could only kill so many before the front lines reached them and Izur was swarmed by the animals being knocked down he whipped out a kunai for each hand and started to kill that way. It wasn't the most efficient method, however. Izur's hands slashed about before his upper shoulder was caught and he was smashed down with a Gator holding him under water.

Its claws had dug painfully through the shirt and deep into his skin. He twisted cutting the animals head off and jumping up, bloody kunai flashing as they killed the gator. Backing up he allowed his clones to take the rest watching as three of the four died and took out the surrounding animals stunning many that the other clones were fighting.

Shaking his head he made three more clones to replace the dead ones and all of them started to pick up the dead animals and look for any remaining living ones. God help him if this stupid wound got infected, he cursed the name of every alligator in the world while his clone cleaned and bandaged the wound.

He hated Masaru and he would get even one day.

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Four O'clock, it was four o'clock. They'd been in that god damned sewer for nine hours, nine. But no forget that they hadn't had lunch, forget that they hadn't been swarmed by crazed animals and been knocked under crap and piss filled water. No, forget all that because it was _just_ nine hours and they should buck up.

Izur was fuming at their sensei now that they were out, in fact the man had gone even so far as to tell them not to come within fifty feet of him. All because they smelt like that hell hole because of that stupid, stupid man in front of them who was grinning at the moment. Izur swore that if he laughed, he Himiloh Izur would attack and maim the man.

Masaru was grinning at his team, though he was mildly surprised at the amount of killing intent that his youngest student was sending his way. Apparently that boy _was not_ happy about the way this mission had gone. Or maybe it was just because he hadn't realized how mean those little critters could be when they were hungry or threatened. Oh well, his own fault.

Now though he was about to place on them the next burden, and he wondered how they would react to it. "Okay team, now that we are finally done with that mission its time to move onto the last one of the day." Their eyes sharpened on him and he felt the sudden anger radiating off the two older genin as well.

Izur's seemed to have cooled slightly, he was still pissed but he was finally managing to put it under control. Apparently even though the missions had been… bad to say the least he knew that no matter what they must not fail something this simple. For though they put people in bad positions and had them experience bad things, overall they were not hard.

"There's a small little lake not too far from here that the villagers often visit to relax. It is like many of the onsen's we have but this one is much cooler and larger then the others. So naturally it gets pretty trashed, we have to go and clean it up and throw all the trash that we've collected here and there at the facility. Let's go."

The team actually seemed to relax slightly as they learned what their next mission was. It was degrading to have to pick up after the villagers but at least it was better then anything they had done so far. Well maybe except for the Pigs and cows one, that hadn't really been all that bad.

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When they had reached the lake, all three genin had given the others a look and rushed jumping in the water with an intelligible 'I'll look for trash in the lake'. It had Masaru chuckling as he watched them all dive and start to clean themselves. As discreetly as possible though, they didn't want Masaru to think that they were slacking off.

And they understood that this was his way of allowing them to clean up before walking into the village as well as getting another job done. And though they were thankful they still decided some revenge was in order.

As the team finished picking up the trash that had been left in the lake the sun began to set, it was only around six o'clock and since the team knew they still had to do the shore they started to speed up their actions. None of them wanted to be out here any later then they had to, not after the sewers.

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At eight o'clock the team had finally managed to make it back to the village, looking around at the vacated streets Team eight sighed in relief. They still stank of sewer gunk and none of them wanted to be running into villagers who might wonder what the team had been up to all day.

They hadn't been in the village long when Masaru looked at them a slight grin on his face, "The Mission office, tomorrow at six." They nodded in understanding watching their teacher disappear in a swirl of clouds and sighing, wondering when they could just ditch him like that without a word.

The three shared a look of knowledge; they just knew that something wrong was going to happen tomorrow with their missions. It was a given at this point that they should expect to have the worst missions the village could find. They only wished they knew why. As the team reached their splitting point Izur raised one arm and spoke as non-chillingly as possible.

"See you two tomorrow at five." They nodded at him even though he wasn't looking; after all it had become some what of a habit for them to be woken by Izur at five in the morning now. And since he had gotten so good at sneaking into their respective houses without getting caught it wasn't as unpleasant as it might have been.

With hands in pockets and an unlit C Stick in his mouth Izur walked down the dimly light streets of Kumogakure wondering what their next mission would be. And how much he was going to hate it. He'd not noticed his temper as of late, it was getting worse.

His teammates were chalking it up to his starting to go through puberty and maybe it was that, but someone else was about to raise his wrath that day. As Izur slunk through the streets towards his home three chakra signatures glared at him through the empty streets. He didn't bother to stop, because the signatures were gaining on him and he didn't want to let on his knowledge of their existence.

But as he neared his home he began to grin because this was turf he knew very well, and any spy would find it hard to beat him here. What with the near by fountain that had water for him to pull jutsus from and the open amount of grass that would let him use his only half learned earth jutsu.

When he was fifty feet from his home the three signatures decided it was time to move more openly and they landed in front of him with glares on their faces. Raising a single eyebrow Izur looked at their supposed leader, Kobayashi Arai.

His teammates looked uneasy but that could also be because of what had happened last time. But now they figured they had the drop on him and as Arai spoke he could see their anger. "Well, looks like your unprepared and alone. Have any famous last words, Himiloh-Baka?"

Grinning the younger boy spoke cheekily, wondering if maybe this was such a good idea, "Yea, how do you want to be barbecued, extra Crispy or just crispy?" He saw the sudden looks of anger in the other boys face and as he planted his feet to move a snarl like yowl cut through their ears.

A moment later a fire ball brushed in front of the three boys and their stood his fathers Jaguar snarling. His father stood behind the three children hands in pockets and ANBU mask in place over his face. "Kobayashi-San I suggest you leave before I challenge you as head of the Himiloh clan for your insult." The boy had stiffened, but he seemed to know why Izur had been so… confident now.

"Yes… Himiloh-San." The team set away, walking past Izur and the snarling cat. His father was shaking his head looking at Izur like he might decide to beat the boy for this happening. "Come… we must talk boy." Nodding Izur followed his father in; the look in his eyes had given something away.

It was time to talk about the clan mark, which meant his father was going on a particularly dangerous mission soon.

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**Next Chapter: **Something Feels Wrong

**Info: **The team is off to another horrible mission, but this one may tax even the patience of Hachiro. Plus with Izur's new aggressiveness can he handle all the stress without causing more problems. Next time, it'll be time to take out the trash and renew some stuff.


	15. Training Arc: Garbage Day

Shattered Dreams

_**Shattered Dreams**_

_**Notes:**_ Well here you go, took me a bit longer since I was sidetracked all weekend, but enjoy the teams next crazy mission. Also a quick disclaimer, the last two missions Team Eight has gone on is thanks to the show Dirty Jobs, great inspiration you were. Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

_**Chapter 15: Something Feels Wrong**_

Stretching the young genin watched his sensei with something akin to horror and hatred. There was no way that he couldn't realize how bad these missions were, or how degrading for that matter. Yet he still kept signing them up for these… things.

No one could be paid enough to do some of the things they had done so far. And now rather then being shinobi they were being reduced to garbage kids. Nothing but an easily replaceable person that went and picked up the garbage. "All right so you three will collect the morning garbage and bring it back here before nine."

Nodding the Genins left grumbling under their breaths about stupid jobs that didn't help the village as much as they could have. But they were careful not to allow any of their grumblings to be heard by Masaru, for it would have been very unbecoming of shinobi to grumble.

Izur went off towards the part of town that he was more familiar with, while Hachiro and Leiko would pick up the areas they were familiar with. It was, roughly, splitting the village into thirds. But that wouldn't matter as the trio made clones during their jog to pick up the trash.

Izur had decided that thirty clones would do, split into fifteen teams of two. That way each pair could collect a larger area and carry everything without having to make too many trips back and forth. He however, was not happy about this since he didn't think his father would be pleased to see his heir running around picking up trash as his missions.

Especially not after last night, thinking back Izur's face fell into a far more serious mask then he had, had in days.

"_Son, this mark will allow you to use our Kekkei Genkei but remember it comes with a serious price." The boy nodded in response to his father's words, and it wasn't just any price. "Also, if anyone else is to receive this mark they will be able to use the technique only with about double the consequences."_

_Izur nodded, he had not known this part of the clan's technique. "The true Kekkei Genkei is the jutsu itself. I have left a scroll for you in your room. Learn it and then destroy the scroll, this is your legacy son."_

_Nodding Izur stood wondering just how dangerous this mission would be. As he'd headed upstairs he'd looked down at his arm, more importantly at the upper part of it. It was still bleeding lightly from where the jutsu had placed the mark. A broad sword, with an ornately decorated hilt and a bright silver blade that dripped blood from its tip._

_It was also his clan's symbol, and for the moment at least, it only reached from his shoulder to his elbow. But the more he used the jutsu the more it would grow until it would eventually kill its user. His father was already touching the other shoulder, one of the reasons he was rarely found without his ANBU mask._

_During his thought he had made it to his room, and opening the scroll his eyebrows rose in surprise. The first few words were not as he had expected them to be, instead they read; Heir, Son, Izur… Other clan heirs receive more then a simple jutsu and its consequences then our clans. However there are reasons why we Himiloh's do not bother with all the fanciness that it would bring. _

_We are shinobi and shinobi sacrifice themselves for the betterment of their country and as a stealth/assassination clan we do not need to attention that these others do. It is my hope that you understand this now and do not attempt to change anything if… when I should fall. If you do not understand now, I am assured that you will soon. _

_For now though son, know that I love you and wish I could give you more then what you will find in this scroll._

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It was nine, and the three Genin had just managed to bring in all of the trash that had been in the village. A glowering Izur was still watching Masaru waiting for him to tell them what their next job was, and hoping that it was no longer degrading as this had been. But the words in his fathers scroll kept coming back to him and it made him wonder.

If maybe these missions didn't have a deeper reason behind them. They had taught in the academy that a shinobi must always 'look underneath the underneath'. And this new knowledge from his father had him wondering into the reasons (other then the obvious one that Masaru liked to watch people suffer) as to why they had these dirty missions and not more honorable ones.

Izur's eyes flitted over to the Garbage Companies owner as he approached them, a grin on his face. Not the good kind of grin either; it was one of those mischievous 'I can't wait to see their reactions' type of grin. And it was sending Izur's stomach plummeting as well.

"Well you're brats are pretty good Zetsumei-Sama. Anyways to move onto our next job, you three will go down to the recycling bin and sort through everything placing plastics with the plastics, metal with metal, paper with paper, so on and so forth." Hachiro rose his hand slightly, getting the mans attention. "Yes?"

His tone was… contemptuous to say the least but it didn't faze Hachiro in the least. "Well sir, what do you meant 'Bin'. I know other villages have a conveyor belt that brings a bag of contents to them, does ours not have this ability?" The sneer on the man's face disappeared into a careful blank mask.

"By bin, I mean a two thousand gallon bin that you will climb into and empty of _all_ contents by one o'clock." The team decided not to push the man about his companies lack of technology, apparently the simple question by Hachiro was enough to piss him off. And since he was their employer it wouldn't be too smart to make him too mad.

With that all understood, the team was led to the _**massive**_ bin that held more trash then the whole village could produce in a week. Izur's eyes, in seeing this thing, came close to popping out of his head. They couldn't even see the entire thing; to begin with over half of it was under ground. "Well you three should get to it each of the drop off points is clearly labeled."

The man left whistling a sick little tune as he did so, and Masaru even had a less then humorous look in his eyes. For once, that was. Izur looked at his teammates and the three nodded, they'd need many, many clones for this. So each, Izur with his natural stamina created the clones for the sorting piles to make it easier on them.

Then with twenty four other clones he had, they jumped into the bin landing on a solid wall of trash that sank slightly under the weight. Leiko had created a good twenty clones herself as well, and Hachiro had his own twenty out bringing the teams total 'man power' to sixty seven to dig out the trash and six to sort it as it was thrown to them.

Trying to see the positive point in this worthless job Izur decided to cheer his teammates up, or attempt to. As he was he was opening a large black trash back, "Well how bad can this be? So a lot of trash but its all recyclables who…" His voice trailed off as his hand was suddenly immersed in what did not feel like plastic, paper, card board, aluminum, or any other recyclable material.

"Something wrong Izur?" Leiko's sweet voice was a key to knowing that she found the sudden situation amusing. "Yes… something feels… wrong." Hachiro and his clones started to laugh as they looked at Izur's slowly paling face. "What could it possibly be? I mean its _all_ recyclables right?"

Izur's eyebrows twitched slightly as Leiko mocked him and then he developed a tick at the corner of his mouth as he slowly drew his hand out. Speaking in a deadly even tone that lacked emotion, "Yes… it is."

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It was noon and the team had rushed to the bathrooms to clean their hands off as much as possible before going to eat. They had made incredible progress in the bin, in fact there were only about thirty minuets of hard work left so while the real genin set off to eat their clones kept working to try and finish before one.

After Izur's mistake with the bag of dog crap that some cracking lazy son of yak had thrown into their recyclables trash can the team had become more circumspect about checking what was in a bag before opening. There hadn't been anything too dangerous about this mission, unlike the last one.

Except for maybe the small trash avalanche Leiko had caused to fall on Izur's clones as a joke. That had started a mini trash war between the three Genin, where they would 'miss' throwing it far enough and have it hit someone else. Especially if it was something nasty, like the week old food, or the dirty diapers.

Despite their little fight the three had felt more relaxed when lunch time had come then before, if only because it had allowed them to get at least some of their aggression out after all of these bad missions. The late night and early morning training sessions didn't seem to be enough. Especially with both Izur and Leiko becoming more irritable by the day.

It appeared that Hachiro was the only one who was completely nonplussed by everything they had been doing. Though Izur believed his aggressiveness was also being caused by something other then a couple of stinking crappy missions, however literal that statement was. With these thoughts running through his mind the boy plopped down next to Leiko and Hachiro digging into the mission's energy bars and drinks that Masaru allowed them to eat for lunch.

The food was as usual nasty to taste but then it was meant to be used for long term missions where the team wouldn't be able to make fires or stop. So despite the taste the team knew that this was Masaru's way of training them for those missions. So that they would be ready to eat these things or anything else that was available without too much complaining.

The drinks, in themselves had no taste, but when mixed with the energy bars it developed something very near the taste of crap. It was unknown as to why, but all shinobi learned to detest eating the two things together. However the drinks had special medications in them that helped a person heal faster, prevent infection, and gave them energy.

So with all those nice little things to boost it, it was not surprising that they would end up tasting nasty. Even if it did make the shinobi wonder if the people who had created it weren't just incredibly sadistic for not finding _some_ way to make it taste at least marginally better. Though when you've had the type of missions that most shinobi have you learn that a little bit of bad taste it worth every ounce of those things.

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The Mission client seemed mildly disappointed by the emptiness of the Recycling bin. It appeared that he had wanted some reason to deny them payment or to just yell at them but for now the team was denying him this chance. Even if they were inwardly seething at him for allowing such a growth of the trash and not cleaning at least a bit of it before hand.

After all the sustained use of Rai Bunshin and Mizu Bunshin had the three Genin's tired. Or they would have been more tired had not their mission food helped them regain more energy and chakra. After all it was like eating five soldier pills, just by having one drink and one bar.

Now though the man got their attention again as he started to speak, it appeared that they were not done yet. "All right you three should take all these bags over to the correct buildings, their labeled. It shouldn't take more of an hour, Zetsumei-Sama come find me when they are done then." Nodding Izur raised his hands to make clones to get it done even faster, but was surprised when a hand landed on his shoulder.

"Do this without clones." Nodding Izur moved away from Masaru and over to the bags grabbing two and struggling under then weight but heading off towards the right building. He wasn't fully sure as to why they couldn't just use their clones and get it done with faster, after all everything the clones did they felt too so it shouldn't be a big deal.

But when the big guy with all the rank tells you to do something you generally listen. Anyways, it was quite easy for the team to split the job up; with six different areas to take bags to each person just took two areas and ran their bags back and forth. It was during this time that Izur realized he needed to start working on his strength again.

It felt… insufficient besides all the work he was doing now. Hachiro, who was not a taijutsu user, could carry three bags while Izur could only truck two at a time. It meant that his strength was below what it should be, even if it was at the average. He started to plan out the new training he would do in order to buff up some more.

He figured he might as well do speed training at the same time, that would get two different things out of the way. After all no one could ever be fast enough, that ability always needed work, because as soon as you thought you were fast enough you faced somebody weaker then you who was twice as fast.

In an hour the three had managed to transport all the bags without too much extra exertion, but it would have gone far faster with the clones. Maybe Masaru had just wanted to watch them try and do it without the extra help? It would make sense. Now they stood facing Masaru who looked mildly annoyed, but it wasn't directed at them.

"All right we've got to go through the village looking for any and all trash that is anywhere, collect it and bring it back here. We'll need to finish that by four, then we have the clean any drawings in the city of the walls and anything stuck to the ground that shouldn't be their. Once we finish with that we're done and can leave until tomorrow. You may use clones, go."

The team split quickly making clones as they moved to their areas again, like they had done when picking up the trash. It would get everything done faster, even though as soon as one finished that one would have to find the others and help or they couldn't leave. And sitting around while your teammate worked wasn't on option on Team 8.

Well, unless you wanted to have the snot beat out of you that was. So Izur made his customary thirty clones, detailing twenty to trash detail and ten to art removal detail. He himself would help with finding any and all trash on the ground in his area first then he'd move himself and the twenty clones to cleaning up the 'foreign' objects on the ground.

Izur was pretty sure that this was meant as gum and other food substances that people spilled on the ground and didn't bother to pick up once it was there. He couldn't quite blame them but it didn't change him from being annoyed about it.

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It was eight and the sun had long since set, Izur stood next to his team watching them for a moment as they all walked towards the training grounds. Hachiro had finished the three jobs first and moved to help Izur, by the time the two boys had finished Leiko had as well.

Of the three areas Izur's had, had the most wall art then the others. But then again when you compared the areas they were in, it had made sense as well. Now though they had decided to train together until ten again. It had become quite the habit over the last few days since it seemed that this time and in the morning were the only times they could train.

Their missions weren't challenging them in the right ways to improve themselves, sure they were physically challenging but these genin were trying to master new techniques that dealt with chakra usage. Plus with the Kinobori no Waza to master as well it made them slightly uncomfortable that they were so back logged with missions all the time.

And it had them worrying as well, after all what village had so many D Ranked missions that the newest genin team never got a break from them. Of course it hadn't clicked that since they were the newest Genin team that they and Team ten were picking up the missions the older ones didn't want any more.

Especially since many of the older teams went on all the C Ranked missions now, and when one was doing C Ranks you had a lot more down time. Plus with the better pay and work quality it was obvious those Genins wouldn't be coming back to do any pathetic C Ranks any time soon.

This meant in the natural order of things, all the crap rolled down hill and landed squarely on the shoulders of Team Eight. Since the other team was 'too precious and well bred' to go on such disgusting missions that weren't good enough for a shinobi.

Though they lacked training time, the genin's could easily see their improvement in their stamina and usage of the clone's jutsus by how easily they could use them and the length of time as well. Plus their taijutsu was improving by leaps in bounds, even if it was in unconventional ways.

As the three settled into their fighting stances getting ready for the battle royal they wondered what tomorrows next mission would bring. Nothing good maybe, but it might give them the chance to improve more.

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**Next Chapter: **Improvement

**Info: **Its time for the team to show how much they've learned and done since becoming Genin and to see if they are ready for the harder missions. Time Skip ahead in the next chapter.


	16. Training Arc: Average Genin

Shattered Dreams

_**Shattered Dreams**_

_**Notes:**_ Now for our next chapter, hope you enjoy the kids reactions and such. Quick Disclaimer – Naruto and all thoughts and ideas belong to Masashi Kishimoto and his writing team or such.

_**Chapter 16: Improvement**_

Over the last month of training and missions the team's ability as not only a fighting unit but as individuals had improved in every way. They may not have started out bickering but a lack of trust was evident, but in the short amount of time that had passed since passing the Genin test they had learned to trust in each other.

If only shallowly in some cases.

It was noon and the three genin with their Jounin teacher were in the training grounds, training together for the first time in a week. The genin could be seen to be breathing heavily and sweat easily coated their skin and flattened their hair. The Jounin however was not faring as well as his outward appearance might have said.

While not having especially labored breather he did have an increased heart rate that bordered the need to breathe quicker. He may not have been drenched from sweat but he was drenched from several water techniques the boys had thrown at him, which easily showed his inability to dodge them.

He had only allowed them to have one team training day every week since he'd made them a team and one day off, all the others had been missions. But he had not known about their early morning and late night training sessions, or at least not the amount of effort that had apparently gone into them.

He had been prepared to face improved Genins but not this improved; they were giving him good run for his money. Overall he had decided all ready that the team was at what Kumogakure would call average genin level and other village would call high genin level. Grinning slightly though he could see his team's amusement at his displays of strength.

Now they _knew_ that he had been holding out on them during all their other training sessions, little though they numbered. A quiet word was said that the Jounin couldn't hear, though he knew it had come from Leiko and a moment later he found an angry Kunoichi in his face with a surprisingly powerful Hachiro to back her up. And in the support mode the scion of Himiloh pelting him with water techniques.

As he ducked to avoid a swing by his Kunoichi he felt a hard foot connect with his cheek sending him off balance and then a sudden shock as the reason for the water attacks became clear. But it was, to his surprise at least, not Izur who had hit him with the attack but his teammate Leiko.

And she was already charging another one up in between her Kunai and sending it at him. This one though he managed to dodge knowing where it was coming from. It didn't stop his surprise from showing however, and now it seemed it was time for a switch. Izur came bursting forwards in a display of speed he hadn't shown all morning; apparently he wasn't the only one holding back.

And a punch fitting a genin's strength made contact with his face and a moment later the next punch landed, but this one was decidedly enhanced. It wasn't only Izur swinging in the hits now however, as Hachiro threw his own weight behind his moves as well. But it wasn't all ease for the two males either for they were taking an unholy amount of damage to cause anything in the first place.

Finally a well placed kick sent Hachiro towards the tree line, but he was quickly replaced by Leiko and when Hachiro had closed the distance again he started to pelt the Jounin with some earth techniques now. Grinning Masaru back flipped only to find Leiko had closed the distance and come well into his personal space. Her feet connected with his chest sending him skidding backwards, his hand caught her foot however.

In return for his kick she found herself making contact with the ground from a harsh throw, and as she jumped back up an enraged Izur found his attacks landing at a price, hits from the Jounins kunai. It was about this time that Masaru decided using his Zanbatou wouldn't be a bad idea and he slipped it from his back swinging hard, expected to catch the Himiloh off guard.

Only he felt the boys Kunai make contact with his shoulder in return for the boy being hit squarely across the chest by the blade, the armor cracking in two and embedding bits and pieces into the boy's body. He took much longer then normal to get up that time, but he'd also effectively prevent Masaru from using his Zanbatou in that arm.

Too bad he was ambidextrous with his weapons, so he could fight with either hand it only meant his attacks would lack the extra amount of power that using both arms would have given him. Someone had to give the boy credit for that in the least. So, Masaru did by sending a gust of wind at the boy to knock him back and embedded the armor even more deeply into his body.

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It was just under an hour later at one o clock that the team had finally finished their fight. Masaru had won easily but they had dealt enough damage for him to know that the team could take on an average to high leveled chuunin without losing a member. But that was as a team; individually he knew their skills were not good enough to be considered chuunin level yet.

It was good that they still had plenty of time until the exams then, a good eleven months to be sure. The Jounin stretched checking the one serious wound he'd been dealt as he watched Izur pick armor out of his body. He had been surprised when the boy had jumped back into the fight; he had counted him out when he'd gone down with that hit.

It showed him how wrong he'd been to underestimate the boy so much, and as the kid removed his shirt he could see the amusement in his teammate's faces at the scar he sported on his back. Which only went to showing Masaru that Izur had not bragged about the scar, and at least it gave the Jounin some hope into curing the boy of his arrogance.

A small hope, but one none the less. Though there was surprise on their faces concerning the boys tattoo, though Masaru had been warned about it by Izur's father he was curious to see that it had been used. Probably for training to make sure that Izur knew what he was doing.

He grinned looking at the team, he knew Izur was eleven now and Hachiro was thirteen but Leiko wouldn't turn thirteen for at least two more months. She was pretty sore about that fact as well, but it was entertaining to know that Izur would probably be twelve by the time the Chuunin exams came around and at least one of the other two could be fourteen.

A year of training before they ever came to the chuunin exams and even then it wasn't guaranteed, they still had to prove they could go by beating their only rival team. That Masaru felt sure they could do, if only because he knew how cocky the other team was likely to be at the moment.

"All right, its time to test you guys on Kinobori no Waza." Masaru was surprised by the sudden amusement the team showed in their expression, then again he realized he shouldn't be. All the training they had been doing would mean that they had also more then likely training with the Tree walking as well.

"I'll split you three up for this with a clone, you'll also be tested separately on your tracking, stealth, and ambushing skills. As well as your general improvement in speed, strength, and weapons skill." The three nodded waiting a moment for their teacher to create their clones and then following them off to a slightly more secluded spot.

This was after all not a team test but an individual test to see where each genin was personally. He wouldn't want to have the team at their level with only one or two of the genin carrying all the weight and one of them not at the correct level. That would invite death on the part of that genin when they moved onto harder missions.

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_**POV - Izur**_

The boy had watched his sensei's clone carefully as they'd walked towards a tree about a hundred yards from Masaru's real body and twice the distance from his closest teammate. He knew the reasons behind splitting them up well but he would have preferred if he hadn't.

Plus the added vulnerability he had from not wearing a shirt or armor was playing with his mind, and making him even more irritable. He'd gotten his hit in on Masaru-Sempai but it had cost him dearly to do so and the six large gashes on his test bespoke of that price. Plus he'd had to show to the team that he had the Rookie's scar and his families crest on his arm.

He knew that Masaru would know what it meant, but his teammates would not. Plus the boy dreaded the questions and all the explanations that this was called. Normally his father should have waited until he was Chuunin level before doing so, but in the condition he had come back in from that mission it was understandable.

He'd barely been alive when he'd come back from whatever his mission had been and the doctors had not believed he would live. Though his father had pulled through he was still on suspension until the Raikage, the ANBU's leader, and his ANBU Captain believed he was fit for duty again.

This meant for the past week and a half Izur had gotten some of the most intense training of his life, since he'd also had to work on the missions and with his teammates. It was paying off however, as was apparent from the battle. He could still hope however that his father would get off suspension soon though as it was quickly becoming tiring trying to keep up with everything on four hours of sleep a night.

"All right up the tree you go no running start. Once you're at the top walk back down." Izur nodded to his teachers clone and walked over to the tree, stopping briefly to make sure the clone understood he was about to start he took a step forwards and then another until he was slowly walking up the tree.

He placed his hands into his pocket sauntering along the tree until he reached the top and then spinning on his heel to walk right back down, at the same speed. He had made sure to go slow and he could see that his teammates were doing the same thing. And that Masaru couldn't quite believe what he was seeing. A moment later the boy let go of the chakra in his feet and stood with a grin to look at his teacher.

"Good enough, Masaru-Sempai?" Nodding the clone moved away from the tree slightly motioning that the boy follow. Once they were at the edge of the woods he spoke and quickly as well. "All right now you're going to have to track me, you will start in five minuets from now. Once you find me you must sneak up on me and then ambush me."

Nodding that he understood the clone disappeared into the forest and Izur grinned keeping track of the time in his head. It would be fun to show how much he had improved, and held back to his teacher. Killing his clone would be… satisfying to say the least. It would allow him to get something back for his injuries.

As soon as five minuets had passed Izur's hands flew through his hand seals and then his chakra spiked as a single clone appeared next to him. Both the clone and the real Izur lowered their chakras so that Izur's seemed to have been completely extinguished and the clone was just above readable.

With that part of his plan done the clone shot forwards through the brush, quietly enough that someone would have to listen hard to hear it, while the real Izur went through the brush in a much more silent fashion. He slipped behind a few trees and bushes using his nose to find the scent of his teacher.

Once it was found he slunk towards it, a feral grin spreading across his face. Meanwhile Masaru was frowning at the feel of his youngest student's chakra. He could tell the boy was masking it quite well, but it was still sensible. He would have to tell the boy that he was going to fail the stealth portion of this test.

Not good, if Izur was having this much trouble then the clone was sure Leiko would have even more. Hachiro would walk through the test, for some reason that boy had some kind of natural ability to blend. Grinning, Masaru's clone decided that he would ambush the moving boy instead.

As Izur was near he felt the sudden shift as the scent began to travel and his grin broadened. He wasn't sure why, but it appeared that Masaru's clone had decided to move from his well concealed spot. Moving as fast as he could while remaining just as noiseless he arrived in the path that Masaru would be taking.

He started to set up the trap of exploding tags, kunai, and logs and once he was done he hid himself good thrity feet from where the trap would go off. Ready to spring into the fray once the trap was triggered. He carefully dispelled the grin that had settled onto his face as he felt the scent of Masaru approaching.

Not long now, and as Masaru entered the four diagramed explosive array the trap went off, as soon as the exploding tags went off it ripped through the ropes holding the kunai. The kunai flung themselves en masse at the now stunned teacher, with five directed away from him to cut the ropes holding the logs.

As soon as Masaru had managed to doge the remaining Kunai the logs had finally been let loose and came flying at the teachers, four of the five missed but the last one managed to knick him sending him spiraling and Izur had managed to jump into the action now as well.

His clone had started that way the instant it heard the explosion but as Izur landed on top of Masaru he placed the Kunai right next to his throat and spoke with confidence. "Dead." The clone of his teacher looked at the youngest genin in surprise his eyebrows raised and then a grin spread across his face.

"No, now I'm dead." Izur's eyes widened but the clone moved too fast for him to react and impaled itself on the kunai, and as soon as it poofed Izur was violently shocked. Grumbling about stupid suicidal clones Izur started back towards hi real teacher slowly. Trying to get over the effects of being shocked before he arrived back for the taijutsu challenge.

As he moved he made his clone explode shocking several animals around it, a kind of vengeance for the damage he'd been dealt.

As Izur appeared back in the clearing he looked over at his sensei who was sending a new clone his way. Narrowing his eyes on the clone Izur placed a hand in his pocket grabbing the kunai there and glared. "Time for the taijutsu challenge." With the words just out of his mouth the clone flung itself forwards to attack.

Izur's hand came up out of his pocket blocking the kunai the clone had in its hand with his own. Then he went for the leg sleep only to find himself crouching lower to avoid having his head removed. Lifting himself up on his arms he launched at the man feet connecting with his chest.

However he found his legs grabbed and him thrown, but as he flipped over once he swept his leg up and brought it down with all the force he could must. The Hien making contact with the clone's hand sending it down into the ground and exploding. Only to cover the young genin in electricity again.

Izur jumped back up glaring at the new clone that had stopped approaching at over a hundred feet away. "Final test, Weaponry. You have to hit me, a moving target with only throwing your weapons." Izur grinned, nodding his understanding; at least this meant he wouldn't be shocked.

He drew his shuriken quickly hurling them, and watching as the clone jumped out of the way he countered with another barrage of shuriken. He would use these to find out where Masaru tended to move before using his kunai to get more precision. As he threw the next batch he grinned finishing the quick movements he'd been making with one hand.

He threw the weapons with both hands this time, and as the clone dodged in wards to get around them Izur used the wire he had tied to the weapons to direct them the same way forcing the clone to come far closer then it had suspected. With one last tug Izur directed the twelve Shurikens after Masaru, finally letting go of the string.

However Masaru was not off the hook as Izur grabbed his kunai and sent them flying forwards only to watch as they connected and then to widen his own eyes. He never got the chance to curse the luck that had put Masaru well within range of Izur because the shock that hit him caught the words before they could form.

Forcing his now annoyed body up off the ground he frowned down at it wondering if maybe Masaru had planned to do that the entire time.

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It had taken about ten more minuets before Hachiro had joined him, and about five minuets after that for Leiko to join looking… irritated. She glared at her two male counterparts and they suddenly found that the trees around them had some very interesting bark.

The three knew that Leiko had probably done the best at the weapons and the worst at the stealth/tracking portion of it. Hachiro was a good second for tracking and both the boys had a near even tie with stealth. Now though they focused on Masaru as his real body approached them looking more serious and focused then they had ever seen him.

"You three have all passed this test." Eyebrows rose all around but no sudden exclamations of what test, for they'd all known they were being tested but not for what. "This was a test that if passed told myself and the Raikage two things." He paused expecting one of them to ask the obvious question, and they didn't fail him as Hachiro piped up, "What things, Sensei?"

Grinning the man continued on, "The first was to see if you were strong enough to be called Average Genin, and you are now. The second was to see if you were prepared to move onto some C Ranked missions." He paused deciding to allow the suspense to drag out for them.

They should know the answer, but with him around they could never be completely sure. "And I'm proud to say that you are ready for that as well." Some Genins may have cheered at this news, but what Masaru got was satisfied smiles and relieved sighs from his team.

And he knew why as well, so he spoke again this time affixing the three with a slightly questioning gaze. "So how have you… liked our missions to date?" Izur was the first to comment on this fact as his own gaze sharpened into an almost glare. "I've detested all sixty two of them. However I've come to the realization that you had some reason behind all them, other then to torture us that is."

Hachiro and Leiko nodded in agreement to their younger teammate's words. It caused a slight smile to creep across Masaru's face as he watched their glares turn into mildly inquisitive ones. "It's a simple one really; now you've smelt the worst things in the world, witnessed horrifying violence, and yes even committed it. Now in battle there will be no reason to hesitate when you are assaulted with any number of things and also it was meant to humble you…"

Masaru was stopped in his explanation by a question from Leiko, "Humble us sensei?" Her curiosity was quite evident as were the boys. "Yes, you see even as a shinobi and honorable profession though it is you must still swallow your pride and do dirty jobs in order to not only become stronger but to make a village run smoother. Always remember that the greatest thing you will ever do will also be a great test of everything you know and have done."

Nodding in understanding the three seemed slightly down cast now by saying that they had detested the mission, and about all the grumbling they'd done over the last month as well. But he wasn't about to let them slip into a funk just yet.

"Though I don't believe anyone has ever not detested these missions anyways. You can do something for your village and still hate having to do it. It merely shows your dedication more." Nodding with slight grins on their child faces they seemed slightly more at ease.

Though he still couldn't blame them for hating the missions, he's hated having to watch them do some of those things. "So Masaru-Sempai since we've done so well and been humbled what shall we do next?" Hachiro's stronger baritone like voice had the Jounin grinning even bigger.

"Well simple tomorrow we'll go on a warm up D rank mission that is not anything like what you've done to this point. Then we will start going on the C Rank missions more and more." He paused for a moment debating telling them what they had mastered and finally caved in, "You three have mastered all the basics that a Genin must know so now we will also work on making you Advanced Genin."

Smirking slightly he decided to shock them a little bit more, "To go to the Chuunin exams you will want to be at a Low to Average Chuunin level. It is the only way you'll manage to get the rank. So we have a lot of training to do." The Genin nodded in acceptance become unwontedly serious at the mention of the exams.

Masaru was pleased to see that they were not like some genin that didn't care if they advanced. A good thing too since he had bragged to the head of ANBU about them already.

"You three meet tomorrow at five, in the Raikage's building." Nodding they started to walk and he turned to head off in his own direction. It was good they were turning out this way; else he might have to kill them.

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**Next Chapter:** Construction

**Info:** The teams warm up mission and first 'real' mission that doesn't put them into some kind of awkward position. Lets see how the handle a physically taxing job.


	17. Training Arc: Heavy, Heavy, Heavy

Shattered Dreams

_**Shattered Dreams**_

_**Notes:**_ None really just that I hope you all enjoy.

_**Chapter 17: Construction**_

Izur and his team stood in front of the Raikages building with a light sheen of sweat coating their bodies, they had been working out since three am that morning like any other day. But for the first time ever Masaru had joined them in it and he'd upped all of their weights.

Izur had been toting around fifty pound weights under his shin, forearm, and chest guards which had given him a good two hundred and fifty pounds to deal with. Plus he'd just finally managed to get it to the point where he was nearing his old speed with all that weight on, but Masaru had upped it that day.

Instead of the simple twenty five pound increments Izur had been going in he'd thrown Izur up to a hundred pounds under each of those things and the boy felt like he could barely move. Hachiro had moved up to fifty pounds and Leiko was walking with seventy five now.

Add in all the training they'd done for nearly two hours that morning and the team wasn't looking forwards to whatever mission they had today.

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The three were headed towards a newly developed part of town to help construct new roads and sidewalks and repair the ones already there. They'd been told exactly what they were supposed to do and that they were expected to be done by ten am. No ifs, ands, or buts about it the order had come from the Raikage himself.

As they arrived the three split up and made around ten clones each, being too tired to make too many more then that. Then set to work, Izur and his clones would lay the new roads, Leiko and her clones would lay the sidewalks, and Hachiro would repair the remaining ones then go over everything the other two had done and fix any mistakes.

They hoped it wouldn't take until ten to finish this all but with the new weight they were not optimistic.

So Izur started hauling a large bucket filled with the tar that had to be placed over the roads while his clones did the same. Then taking it he began to spread it attempting not to burn himself at the same time. Leiko had buckets of concrete and as she laid each slab of sidewalk Izur felt as though his was taking far too long.

Izur griped about the ridiculously hot tar as he threw another bucket of the stuff onto the road, jumping back with a slight yelp as it hit his foot. Again. Growling he and his clones went back grabbing two buckets per person and hauling them out, he had already realized that the more they spread the farther they got from the buckets.

And then it was the farther they had to go back and then drag the buckets over to the spot where they needed them. As soon as he and his clones got over to the area they were at he would delegate half of them to go and bring over a continuous supply of buckets so as to make it move a little faster. Or so he hoped.

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The team finished their work on time, if just barely. And they were all reaching a new point of exhaustion; one that they merely went about their work without much realizing what was going on anymore.

Masaru had said today would be a warm up for all their future missions, but if this was just a warm up they did not want to know what the actual thing was going to be like. As the team stood back up Masaru led the way to the next mission they had to do. Apparently the team would be making pretty good Construction workers for the day.

As the genin set down moments after their teacher a man with a hard white hat approached them and spoke, seeming distracted. "Eh, you three the genin we hired to help?" Instead of answering they just nodded trying not to look uncomfortable, and attempting to look incredibly strong and refreshed.

It didn't work.

"Pheh, whatever. I want you three to help them two men build that house. They will explain anything you need to know. When you're done follow them to the next house." He shooed them away with a hand gesture before going back to work on his own house. It was pretty obvious he didn't think all that much of the three.

This was to be expected when they showed up looking tired and sweaty all ready.

As they approached the two men, they wondered exactly what as so hard about this job. Other then the physical labor of it, of course. The men turned on the kids about to tell them to bug off when they noticed the head bands and frowned. They'd been told to expect some shinobi; these things looked like they'd just gotten out of their diapers.

"You three the help?" Izur frowned as he nodded, wondering how often they were going to be asked that. The scrunched up look of the two men's faces told of their disappointment. "Okay then… I'm going to need two of you to help me get this piece up while the other one helps my friend set it in place and then hammer it in."

Nodding Izur and Leiko went together to help lift the heavy piece, it was easily decided. Hachiro walked over to the man and nodded as coolly as possible before following him over to receive an explanation on what he would need to do. Izur and Leiko looked at their man to listen to his explanation.

"All right I'll need one of you on each side, and then you just need to pick the frame up and haul it over to where the rest of the house is. You will have to hold it as snug as possible and close to the ground to let them hammer it in." He paused to make sure that they were following and when he saw that they were paying attention he continued.

"I'll be in the center yelling out any needed directions to you guys. Now be careful with it, if we break it we're in deep shit." Nodding again in understanding the two teammates followed the man over to the massive wooden frame that would make the second part of the house.

Izur took the front part since he was the shorter of the two and as he hauled the thing up he frowned. It was heavier then he had originally estimated. By about thirty pounds if he was right, the thing should come close to a hundred and fifty pounds of weight. A termites dream.

Leiko hefted her end and then both nodded to each other and a moment later each had one clone standing on the other end across from them. The man had gaped when the clones had popped into existence and now as he watched the kids carry it with only a minimal amount of difficulty he found himself staring.

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Izur stretched as he forced another piece of insulation into the house, between all the wood and into the wires and such. It hadn't been easy putting all those wires into place and making sure they were connected right but the two men they were working with had been adamant that it be done properly.

He couldn't blame them, but the genin were not electricians and as such had, had no idea on what to do. After about thirteen minuets though they'd gotten the general concept and had been able to at least help marginally. Now though they had to stuff this damning insulation every where and it got everywhere.

In their mouths, noses, ears, and eyes. Izur was pretty sure he'd be picking this ridiculously pink colored crap out of his hair and clothes for several days. Especially if they had to do it more then once, and knowing their luck they would. Though other then this none of the genin could really complain about this mission.

Though it was physically challenging it wasn't as nasty as any of the others, just hard to complete with their previous state of tiredness and the new weight they carried. Though all three were pretty sure this was Masaru's way of having them gain weight without it being fat.

Too bad he couldn't come up with a better way. Izur jammed his smatter hands into the harder places and forced more of the insulation in there thinking about how much better their missions would probably start to get. He couldn't wait to see how hard a C Rank mission was, and to leave the village and maybe even visit others ones. He was, he had decided _giddy_ to go on one of the missions.

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It was noon, lunch time, and the team had managed to finish two houses all ready and were becoming quite adept at the electrical portion as well. Putting in the walls wasn't as easy as they had thought but it wasn't the hardest thing they'd ever done. Izur was just glad they hadn't had to do the plumbing connections, he was pretty sure the nightmares would come back if he did.

Though as he plopped down next to his teammates and his teacher he grinned down at the food that tasted horrible but would give him all the energy he needed to fill out the rest of the day. Or so he hoped. "So how do you guys like the harder missions." Grins were Masaru's only answer as the genin's stuffed the food down their mouths. They'd been told to have two more houses done by two pm and were eager to do so.

Not because they liked the work, but because it was the first real mission they'd had. Plus they liked the reactions the construction workers were giving them, the wondering looks and amazed voices as they watched. Then there'd been the completely incredulous question about the weights they'd been carrying.

That had been funny, and entertaining.

Hachiro had been annoyed with trying to move a piece of hundred pound wood so he'd started to remove his weights when Izur had told him to leave them in and use clones. That Masaru wouldn't be happy if he reduced the weight they were training with. One of the men they were working with, a Unari or something like that had heard.

He'd come over asking what weights and Hachiro had shown him, the man had taken the weight and looked at the boy like he was nuts before asking how many he was wearing. Izur had answered saying that Hachiro was wearing a total of two hundred and fifty pounds.

But before the man could even react Hachiro had mentioned that Leiko was carrying three hundred and seventy five pounds and Izur was walking around with five hundred. The man had unceremoniously fainted when he heard that while both Izur and Hachiro had rushed to help him.

Izur grinned at the memory wondering why the man had been so ridiculously surprised, didn't he know that shinobi had to train with weights to become much stronger and faster. He had asked and been told it was because of their age and height that the man had not expected such a thing, maybe from Masaru he had said but not them.

Shrugging off the memory he looked at Leiko who had asked him something, she was certainly going to be mad when he asked her to repeat it.

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Izur yawned looking at the four houses that he and his team had helped construct, the man who had paid for their services came up a grin on his face as he shook Masaru's hand. "Thank you Masaru-Sama, your team has done amazing work. I hope to have you three works for me again sometime were several months ahead of schedule thanks to you."

Nodding the team had thanked the man for the opportunity to work with him and left, leaving him mildly dumbfounded. Masaru had grinned through the whole thing, having known what to expect, and knowing that the man would never underestimate a shinobi because of his age again.

Plus the fact that he and his workers would undoubtedly talk about the team's hard work and weight training would eventually get back to the Raikage and he would undoubtedly be pleased by the teams work. So far today was going good he decided. As they stopped at the wall that prevented people from just walking into Kumogakure he looked up smirking.

Turning the team watched as a short fair haired man approached them, offering his hand to Masaru before speaking. "Ahh you three the shinobi that Raikage-Sama wants to help me?" The genin nodded and the man continued on, "Good, I'm the defense contractor that built this wall and you guys are going to help me and my men repair it. There's a bucket of concrete over there when you come across any cracks fill it in completely."

The man had led them over to the buckets as he'd talked and the team took this as a dismissal grabbing the buckets and jogging towards the wall, completely ignoring the man as he yelled for them to wait. Masaru sighed suddenly and spoke, "They don't need a ladder, watch."

With that the man proceeded to watch three children climb the wall without any ladder and start applying their fifty pound buckets of concrete to it and cover any cracks. Shaking his head he started to yell at his workers to start working or be beaten by a bunch of ten year olds.

The team just grinned at each other as they went back to work; they wanted this mission done as soon as possible so they could go and train. The only thing that was going to get them used to the weight they now wore was a hell of a lot of training that they normally didn't have time for.

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It was four and the team was sitting back on a bench watching as their latest employer walked away with all his empty buckets and tired workers. They jumped up as Masaru approached, their grins disappearing at his serious face. "Its time to train, we'll break at six for dinner but we will train till ten o'clock tonight."

Nodding they followed him off towards one of the closer training grounds, it would be about five hours and thirty minuets of training filled in with their last two hours and then their missions it would be a good sleep tonight.

As they filed into the training grounds Masaru turned to look at them with a slightly sick looking grin on his face. "All right since we are training to have you guys at the 'High Genin' level state we will work on your speed and strength until dinner time. Izur I want you to run for thirty minuets as fast as possible, Hachiro you will do as many push ups as possible in thirty minuets, and Leiko you will do as many pull ups."

He paused waiting for the nods of understanding, if not accent. "Then you will switch, Izur to push ups, Hachiro to pull ups, and Leiko to sit ups. Switch again at the end of thirty minuets each time until each of you has done each exercise for thirty minuets. Then we'll break for dinner. Understood?"

The three nodded looking as though he had just punched each of them in the gut, he grinned allow just a bit of his contained killing intent to come out. "Good, now start." Izur took off running towards the woods and as he entered he sped up knowing that Masaru was having him tailed by a clone to ensure his workout.

As he ran he began to wonder what a High Level Genin would have as his taijutsu and speed ability in his village. He wasn't much concerned of other village's requirements just yet. Not when he still had eleven months before he would, theoretically, have to face any of them.

It had failed to hit that during his travels for C Rank missions he might run into some shinobi from other villages and face them. He wasn't however really concerned by any of this as soon his physical exhaustion began to take its toll. After a good fifteen minuets of running he turned around and started to head back, unsure of how far he had gone.

But trying to maintain this insane pace he had set and wondering if he might have to slow down some. And if he did, would Masaru be angry at him or would he understand? Unsure of the answer the boy decided to keep it up until he literally could not breathe from the exertion any longer. It only took five more minuets before he was forced to slow down slightly, if just to get a breath.

But it only took that moment for the Kunai to land next to his foot, and then Izur was speeding back up again trying to get some air into his already oxygen deprived lungs. For the rest of the time, it would find Izur slowing slightly and sucking in air then speeding up quickly again as a Kunai neared his back.

Once back in the clearing he skidded to a halt and upon seeing him and receiving a nod from Masaru the three changed exercises. Izur face planting near and tree and starting his push ups watching as Hachiro struggled on his pull ups, and wondering how many each of them had done.

The push ups became mildly taxing after twenty five minuets but it appeared all his previous work was coming to the front. The three jumped and changed exercises so suddenly that it appeared a blur of movement. And as Izur hefted himself over the tree branch he felt the burn of all the weight he now carried.

And he frowned wondering how he was going to continue on for thirty minuets with the burn already starting in his arms so early.

It wasn't easy but by the time Leiko had skid into the clearing Izur wasn't able to hold himself up any more and just dropped to the ground. Causing a large depression to appear around his body. He started the sit ups, almost immediately but the exhaustion his body was feeling was making it hard to do too much more.

He wondering, briefly, if this was Masaru's way of showing them what they would have to go through when they started their harder missions where they would be tired most of the time. He wasn't completely sure about that thought, but he did have a suspicion that it was at least close to true.

As Izur came up the last time he held it looking at Masaru who had already pulled out their mission food. Climbing to his feet slowly he made his way over to where Masaru was sitting down and glaring at the food that was undoubtedly going to give him a lot of energy.

Energy that he would burn very quickly in the next two hours.

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After eating the team had, had to spar with Masaru. It had not gone very well, though the food had given them a lot more energy it had not been enough to counter act everything that they had already done that day. Plus when they were restricted to only using taijutsu they had found that the food didn't do much for sore muscles.

So for two hours they had been ruthlessly kicked around the training grounds trying to give some of their own back while it was happening. They didn't have all that much luck in the department but in the least they were becoming very good at dodging everything that a Jounin could send at them.

That or taking it and managing to get right back up. Apparently this was becoming a training session of who could take the most damage and still stand while thinking mildly coherently. As the team had finished Masaru had grinned leaning against a tree, few cuts on his body or clothing just a small amount of dirt.

"Good job, we'll continue training as hard as this until you three are at the High Genin level. Tomorrow meet at the East gate at four, and don't train too hard just make it a warm up in the morning to get the kinks our. Remember your weights and weapons and pack for a week."

The team nodded moving off with eyes that were already starting to close on them, wondering how they would fare tomorrow on an obviously long mission.

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_**Next Chapter: **_Boring

_**Info:**_ The team goes on their first C Rank mission with high expectations, especially when four more comrades join them for it. But are they going to be disappointed? Plus Izur gets a new friend and battle partner but who is he?


	18. Training Arc: Infusion

Shattered Dreams

_**Shattered Dreams**_

_**Notes:**_ Hope you like! Also in the next two chapters Izur & Team will soon meet Naruto and a couple of other familiar faces. Warning they may be a tad OCish.

_**Chapter 18: Boring**_

Izur yawned widely as he looked at his two teammates who looked just as tired as he did. This mornings training had been simple warm up exercises to get their blood flowing, not meant to help with any improvement. Though they did have to admit that the weight they felt today didn't feel a damn bit different.

In fact it felt heavier, but that was probably the chaos before the next bit of weights was thrown on them. A fact they were trying not to remember at the moment. As Masaru approached, being followed by four other people the teams surprise was evident, for a moment that was.

Once they had landed next to the three Genins who had packs filled with everything they would need for the week they checked their own. Masaru turned a critical eye on his genin before speaking. "All right our mission today is a C Rank; it's a simple border patrol mission. We'll be on the eastern border for one week or until we are relieved by the next group."

He paused watching the team's faces, making sure that they didn't seem worried about anything. Once he was satisfied he indicated the other team and spoke. "These guys have been shinobi for three years and three just made chuunin, so they can't go on the B Ranked missions until they prove themselves on this one." Team Eight nodded their understanding as they looked over the other guys.

Masaru indicated the shortest one of the bunch before speaking; "This is Amaterasu Norio, he's the chuunin in charge of his team and the second in command for this mission. Hachiro you will be paired with him for the watched." A nod from both was indicating their understanding.

Masaru then indicated the only other female with the group, "This is Osami Kin, another Chuunin and the third in charge. Leiko you will be paired with her for the watches." She nodded, and Izur's gaze rested on the tallest chuunin of the bunch and his eyes narrowed slightly.

It was obvious that this would be his partner, since the trend had held a genin with a chuunin and that did make sense. So as Masaru waved at him and spoke Izur paid attention to his name, "This is the Chuunin Madoka Toshio, Izur you're paired with him." Nodding Izur offered his hand and shook the six foot chuunins hand with a firm grip, after watching the by play Masaru continued one with his explanation.

"Yoshinori Koji will be my partner for the watches. Also your partner in the watches will be your training partner for the week; the Chuunins will teach you the Advanced Genin level techniques and ensure your ability in other areas as well. I will help Koji attain a higher level for the next chuunin exams."

Nods were given all around in understanding, and to know why they had been paired with the person they had. "You will have to keep a look out for anyone approaching our areas. Raikage-Sama says he would prefer if any infiltrator was caught alive so that we may interrogate them but dead is better then allowing them to roam around freely."

Another nod and a certain amount of paling on the rookie genin's side, it was obvious they had not yet killed. "Each watch will be six hours and you will roam our area of responsibility for the entire six. You may not split from your partner, but you may make clones. Be stealthy and try to sneak upon any opponent."

The three rookie genin grinned at their teacher's words, but the Chuunin team looked mildly confused before they noticed the grins and eyebrows were raised on their side. Genins that knew how to make solid clones were rare. "If you are not on watch you are doing one of two things, training or sleeping."

Another round of paling from all of the chuunin and genin this time as they realized they were not to be aloud any rest breaks except to sleep. This meant they would probably have to eat and do other… things while on the move. This mission was going to be harsh, or that was the general thought. "With all this understood it is time to move out, I want you out in front Izur your nose will tell us if something is approaching."

This caused more looked to be cast at the shortest member of the mission, before Masaru could continue talking. "Then I want Toshio following immediately behind him, Kin next with Leiko behind her, then Norio and Hachiro, and finally Koji and myself bringing up the rear." He nodded to Izur who turned and leapt through the gate, a grin on his face. His father would be proud to know his son had lead the team to their mission place.

It quickly became boring to run through the woods, though he couldn't let his mind wander too much because he was the point man. In charge of finding danger before they came upon it, but it was still boring as hell. Izur started to think as he watched the animals he came by.

His father had told him he was supposed to find a companion soon, and the longer he waited the harder it would get. Izur allowed his mind to wander to the conversation he had, had with his father the night before.

"_Son, you've been lacking in some clan duties." Izur had looked shocked that his father would suggest this to him and he'd sucked in his breath prepared to argue that he had not but the raised hand told him not to. "Son you have yet to find a companion and yet you have been a Genin for a month."_

_Izur looked over at the large jaguar that was currently resting its head on his father's shoe. As he surveyed it the animal raised its head looking back with its uncanny yellow, blue, and gray colored eyes. "You will be going on a C Ranked mission tomorrow, correct?"_

_Izur rose his eyes to look back at his father nodding as he spoke, "So I believe, father. Masaru-Sempai has passed us and said that since we are all at Average Genin level that we are ready to commence with the missions." Nodding his father seemed lost in thought before he spoke. _

"_Your mission will more then likely be simple. You will find a companion that suits your fancy and bring it back for testing. Do not fail me in this son." Izur shook his head in surprise, he would never dream of failing his father in anything. The boy bowed slightly before moving to his room, speaking as he did so. "Do not worry father, I will find a companion and pass the test."_

_A nod and the simple word of good, was all Izur heard before he was in his room getting ready for the mission he would have in the morning._

The boy grinned at the memory as he watched the animals flash by, he wondered what he was supposed to find and how. He knew it had something to do with personal interest in the animal and there had to be a… bond that he felt when he saw it. Maybe that was what it was; he would see the animal and it would catch his fancy.

Then he'd pass whatever test his father had in mind and he would have a companion to work with him from now until one of them died. He would also be formerly recognized as the Himiloh heir once such a thing happened, and that boded ill for the genin. It meant he would have to learn of clan politics and go to some of the more important meetings that the village held.

Suddenly Izur held up a hand indicating with it that he smelt eight shinobi ahead of them, he also slowed his pace. But not taking his eyes from the front he received the triple tap on the shoulder that meant to continue onwards. Drawing a kunai as he did so Izur looked forwards wondering if he should send a clone ahead.

But initiative was only good every once in awhile and he felt sure that this was the team they had come to relieve. In case it wasn't he would be ready to fight but there was a certain degree of confidence in his posture otherwise. He failed to notice the fierce grin that Masaru had given him when he'd signaled the potential enemies.

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Four hours had passed since they had replaced the other team and received a debrief. Masaru had taken the first watch; Izur had learned that he would have the third so he and Toshio had moved off to begin some training. He hadn't known why at first, that he had been led over to the large pool but as Toshio had started to explain Izur's hope had faltered of having an easy training session.

He'd been surprised to see Toshio walk on the water as though it were the ground but once he had received the explanation a nod had been given to the other shinobi before he had attempted it. And failed.

He'd walked; maybe three steps with his ankles encased in the water before he'd wobbled and failed. Izur frowned as He glared at the water from where he was standing; he'd been raining for over two hours now and knew that he hadn't made very good progress just yet. But it was something to work on, much like the tree climbing had been.

Turning he looked at Toshio who had just come back from, well Izur didn't know but there he was and motioning for Izur to join him as well. As Izur swam to the edge of the small stream and hefted himself out he jogged over a questioning look on his face. "Yes?" Toshio looked him up and down for a moment before speaking.

"We're going to start training in other things for now. We'll work on taijutsu and see if we can't improve that a bit more. We'll break in three hours to sleep until our watch. Norio-San, along with Masaru-Sama have agreed that we shall only get six hours of sleep everyday. That leaves more time for training."

Izur nodded trying not to look too downcast at the thought of six hours of sleep after a hard twelve hours of training and six hours of roaming the woods for any sign of intruders. Apparently Toshio didn't like the idea much either, but he was doing his best not to show it.

Shrugging Izur indicated that they should begin their match; it was going to be a long week that was for sure.

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Izur was tired; it was as simple as that. They'd been out here for two of the seven require days so far and not only had nothing happened but he'd also only had a total of twelve hours of sleep. Toshio and Izur had agreed that sleeping before their watch was always the best so that they would be the most alert then.

But it didn't improve his temperament any to have to go through the harsh training and watch hours with so little sleep. But then again this was only more training so that he would be ready for later missions, probably the same for the chuunins.

In the last two days Izur had gotten to know Toshio quite well, and know that while the other boy was clearly better at Taijutsu he wasn't very good at Genjutsu. So while Izur worked on his water walking and Ninjutsu training under Toshio's eyes, Izur helped him with some of his Genjutsu and stealth things.

Being a Himiloh had its usefulness after all. He had, however, been amazed by Toshio's sheer strength and ability in Taijutsu and when he'd learned the other boy was wearing about a thousand pounds in weights Izur had damn near slit his own throat. He'd been relieved that the other shinobi however wouldn't be removing any of those weights at any time, but that they might be upping Izur's weights soon.

That had been a pretty low point for the genin; he'd not wanted to move up in weights. Especially since he knew that Masaru would more then likely put between one hundred and fifty and two hundred weights instead of One hundred and twenty five. The man was a sadist that was the only explanation.

But that didn't seem to be the point here, and Izur was still trying to keep a close watch for any animal that might catch his interest, he only had five days left to go.

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Izur and Toshio were about two thirds of the way through their watch on the fourth day, Izur had his customary thirty clones our roaming as well with every other clone using Henge to look like Toshio. This was so it would signal that there was something different about every pair.

Toshio had been surprised the first time Izur had used clones on him, now he was just respecting the fact that Izur had learned the technique and was willing to use it to help them. He was also trying to learn the technique as well, since had had so emphatically told Izur that it could triple his taijutsu strength.

Izur had agreed, with one very large condition, that Toshio couldn't use it against him during their training for the week. At least that way he got some kind of break from being repeatedly shocked.

Other then that though the days had been going by slow, what with the constant training, occasional meal or water breaks and the very little sleep they got. It was beginning to show on even the chuunins that they were not used to it. The Genins, just looked like hell had hit them over and then purgatory had thrown them back into the fray.

Izur however was keeping a close eye out and when the two heard a yowl of pain they decided why the hell not go and check it out. It was perhaps the only thing that was happening at the moment anyways. As they landed in the clearing Izur's eyebrows rose to see two wolves, one snarling at the other.

The snarling one jumped up at the sudden appearance of the two shinobi and bolted, snarling one last time at its enemy before disappearing. Izur looked at the bleeding wolf, disdainfully for a moment taking it in. It was a small gray, obviously only about a year old just out of the worst part of its pup hood.

Its gray hair was matted with its own blood from several wounds, and shrugging the boy decided he might as well put the animal out of its misery. It would die if anyways and at least this way it would have a quick, clean death. Whipping out the kunai he approached leaning down and just as his hand was within reach of the wolves jaws it snapped.

Izur drew back quickly, but the wolf still managed to close its teeth around the very tip of the kunai. "Izur, that thing still got a lot of fight in it. If you're not careful it'll hurt you pretty bad." The boy nodded, he had been surprised by the animal's sudden strike, and apparently it did not want to die.

Izur drew the Kunai back after taking a step back and releasing it in a throw he was suddenly surprised to find himself ducking quickly to avoid the weapon coming back at him. The wolf had jumped at that moment grabbing the hilt in its maw and changing its momentum around until he threw it back at the young shinobi.

Izur could hear Toshio's laughing behind him, and his teeth grit in response to being embarrassed. "Fine… I'll kill the damned thing with my hands." Launching himself forwards he caught the wolf on the top of his head with his right fist ducking down as it snarled towards the offending arm to knock its legs out from under it.

A kunai flashed out again only this time Izur didn't react fast enough to draw out of the way. He caught the animal's teeth on his armor instead with a raised eyebrow as the two fighters eyes met. Izur grinned suddenly leaning in until his head nearly touched the animals his free hand resting on its maw to hold it in place.

"If you want to live, you will come with me." The animals ears remained flattened against its head glaring forwards but it slowly let go of the armor in its mouth. It was dented with the animal's teeth and Izur rose his eyebrows, that was interesting to say the least.

Standing up Izur grabbed the young wolf by its neck and hauled it up until he was holding it in one arm. "Taking it with you now, eh? So I take it his will to live has struck your interest?" Izur shook his head at his chuunin teammate before jumping up into the trees and starting forwards to continue their patrol. "No... It was his eyes." Toshio looked at him inquisitively for a moment before finally voicing his question.

"What do you mean his eyes?" Izur shrugged for a moment wondering if he should say it, but finally he felt that it would do no harm. "They are… like mine." Nodding Toshio looked at the boy he was training, he did not fully understand his reasoning but he knew that the boy meant something along the lines of his personality.

It would be interesting to see where this led.

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Two days later Izur and his… thing were standing at the pool gauging each other again. Snorting the young boy looked over to the Chuunin that might become a better friend. "Spar again?" Shrugging Toshio nodded his agreement, with that Izur indicated Toshio with a flick of his hand and the wolf waited a second before turning to face him as well.

Izur launched himself as soon as Toshio nodded to indicate the battle had started but the wolf remained where he was, watching as the young human that had tried to kill it fought the larger human. He wasn't sure what he was supposed to do, but instinct told him to jump in and join with the boy.

He fought it, for a few moments before finally allowing his body to react as instinct called to do. Izur was as surprised as Toshio when the animal jumped in snarling and trying to bite the older boy. Izur jumped out of the way to give the animal room leaving Toshio to try and deal with the wolf on his own.

He'd been slightly disappointed when the wolf had not joined him in the fight, but now he could see that it may have been a good idea. Pulling a kunai the boy launched himself forwards catching Toshio's against his own before it could strike the wolf and a fierce grin spread across his face as he hurled the weapon at Toshio's mid section.

The chuunin was forced to roll to the side which left him open for the wolf to dart in and catch the older boy on the neck but before it could do any more the wolf was sent skidding backwards. Izur brought his leg back aiming a kick to plan on Toshio's head only to catch a fist to the gut and then a kick to the head that sent him backwards as well.

Jumping up the genin launched him into the fight again while the wolf remained where it was shaking his head trying to find out what had happened. Watching the young boy he could see that he wasn't fighting for territory as most wolves done, but for dominance. To prove who was stronger without killing the other, it was still dangerous and bruising but simpler as well.

Rearing back the wolf launched itself forwards again to join in its first training session.

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The team was heading back, they'd just been relieved by a Jounin and three Chuunin who would patrol for the next week themselves. The week had been anything but boring overall, but as their first c rank mission the lack of opponents and fights from foreign shinobi had certainly given cause to title this mission boring.

But according to Masaru this was a good thing, because normally everything was a SNAFU. Izur had, had to ask what it meant and it was now a common joke in the team to say the word. SNAFU meant; Situation Normal All Fucked Up.

So as Izur headed back towards the village leading the column of shinobi again this time with a wolf next to him following along on the forest floor. Izur grinned, if he and the wolf were accepted by his father then the first thing he would teach the animal was how to run among the tree tops.

Or maybe he would ask his fathers companion to do so, he wasn't sure if he knew how to teach the wolf that just yet. But the hours of training they had gotten in since they had found each other was already going to give them a much better chance then originally thought. The wolf was no where near Izur's stamina but it was learning how to avoid hits from another human fighter very quickly.

Plus it was going to buffen out with the weights it was carrying, and its stamina and speed would increase thanks to the things as well. Grinning as he looked at the animal he let loose a low whistle that indicated, to the wolf at least, to speed it up. A snarl was the boys answer, but Toshio who followed behind him could clearly hear the chuckle he gave in return.

It didn't take much longer to get back to the village but it was late none the less. The time was around six and as Masaru dismissed the other team he called his own towards him. "All right, tomorrow will be a day off but after that meet me in the training grounds at five am." The team nodded and Masaru waved them off, they split unceremoniously fast.

After a week in each others company they wanted some serious alone time and none of their teammates weird quirks. The wolf followed Izur towards his own home, though when they came within fifty feet of it Izur stopped looking at the wolf. "Here I'll take the weights off for now, I have the feeling that father will want to have that fight today."

The wolf just stared at him, though it understood far more then it could ever let on, and the sigh it let loose when the weights came off its back was unmistakable. Izur grinned and chuckled at the animal before moving towards his house at a much slower pace his free hand at the ready near his kunai pouch. Once he had let himself inside the wolf stepped through was well, but they didn't move much farther then that.

For as Izur started to look around a massive black blur knocked both wolf and genin to the ground. Izur snapped back up quickly catching the next strike before it could land on him and gripped the Jaguar's paw tightly. Though it only served to inhibit him as his father's foot connected with Izur's head sending him tumbling backwards.

That was when Izur managed to get the pack off his back and he was considerably lighter afterwards. Grinning at his father he heard the wolfs low growl to the jaguar as it circled closer to him. "So you have found a potential companion, boy." The question was made into a statement and Izur nodded before speaking. "Yes, a wolf."

Was the boy's only response, he could feel the animal coming closer though it stopped when it was ten feet away. "Good, in the backyard and remove your armor, shirt, and weights. You will fight me and Vanya with your wolf." Izur nodded motioning for the wolf to follow and it did, so as soon as Izur found himself in his large backyard he looked around.

It was about fifty yards deep, and twenty five yards wide. This was a backyard meant for training and that was obvious by the lack of almost anything back there. It did have a weapons rack against the back, dummies lined the walls and there was a shed by the right hand gate that held dummies to be placed throughout the yard.

Izur started to strip down taking his chest/back piece armor off first and watching as the hundred pound weight hit the ground. It didn't dent it, much. Then he removed the forearm armor and pulled the weights off there putting them down neatly. He yanked his shirt off throwing it down then bent removing the armor and weights on his shins.

Once he was done the boy moved towards the sent of the yard stretching his body as he did so and looking back at the wolf as it followed him. "All right, you'll take Vanya and I'll take my father. Try to keep with Vanya as they will aim to kill you." The wolf just looked at Izur, but to acknowledge what he'd said it moved concentrating on the Jaguar.

Izur moved his arms closer to his body spreading his legs slightly and waited for his father to either speak or make the first move. "Good, we will start… now." With that the ANBU jumped at his son pulling his fist back, he was however surprised when the boy jumped forwards rolling and threw three kunai at his back. He dodged but, he was surprised by his own son's speed.

Apparently his teacher really was teaching the boy something, and that was good. Though he still didn't stand a chance. As the two humans set into each other the animals were having a snarling spit. Until finally the wolf made the first lunge catching a paw in its mouth but taking a vicious slash across his shoulder. It only managed to back up fast enough by crunching on the Jaguar's paw and then leaping away.

Izur grinned when he heard the Jaguars yowl of annoyance and pain, his father turned to look in surprise but it cost him a couple punches to the stomach and face. He grinned though, knowing that the wolf had carefully held in its own yell of pain because it would have distracted the boy. Maybe the two would be good for each other after all.

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Thirty minuets later a tired Genin sat back to back with his injured wolf glaring at his father who was grinning. The boy was already bruising badly and he had several cuts that would probably need to be looked at by a medic. The wolf had fared only slightly better, though its cuts and slashes would definitely need to be seen to by a veterinarian.

Izur's father had several bruises appeared and only a half dozen or so cuts. The Jaguar had received a broken paw and a bunch of smaller slashes but while Izur had lost to his father it had been declared a tie between the wolf and jaguar. "Boy you've got a good companion there. You two will end up like me and Vanya I have not doubt of that."

Izur beamed suddenly at the wolf that sat next to him, the thing only panted before shaking its head landing spit on the boys face. Before Izur could do or say anything a low snarl came from the jaguar and the wolf rose following the other animal to the other end of the yard to speak without the humans near them. Izur looked up at his father who sat beside him and began to speak.

"You two will bond tonight, and tomorrow we will start training you. I know it will be hard but I will give you a scroll with everything you need to learn with him, and at least show you everything once tomorrow. This way you can train together even when I can not help." Izur nodded, a grin starting to spread across his face as he thought of the new techniques he might learn from this.

"Anyways for the bonding, the wolf will need to bite your forearm, use your left as that mark will soon cover your right. Then you will pick the deepest wound on the wolf's body or create a deep one. I suggest using the one on his shoulder." Izur nodded again to show that he was at least following.

"You will then inject your chakra into the wolf; he will have done the same to you. For the next month the two of you will gain characteristics of each other. He will get your eye color added to his, and his fur will become darker. He will also develop the ability to use chakra but only for some elemental jutsu." Izur nodded again as he thought about the wolf using some of his lightning or water jutsus.

"You two will also gain the ability to understand each other, only you and other animals will be able to understand him. Even I won't be able to without Vanya or your help. You will also develop canines and an even better sense of smell." Izur raised his eyebrows at this his hand touching his teeth in thought. Then he grinned slightly at the thought of his nose being even better.

"You'll also develop a leaner and longer face and a lighter hair color. By the end of this month you'll be more wolf like, more regal and even more feral." Izur grinned at that thought, he was already an animal or so his teammates said. Wait until they watched him over the week.

"Its time." Izur nodded rising onto his knees to look at the wolf, he offered his left arm his right moving out to cover the animals lightly bleeding wound. As soon as he felt the pain enter his arm he pushed his chakra into his hand watching as it entered the wolf's shoulder. He could also feel foreign chakra entering into his system.

A moment later the hand on his shoulder caused him to pull back his own hand and the wolf glared at the wound now on the boys arm. It was bleeding and the light slobber around it might cause it to get infected but it glowed a slight silvery color. The animals shoulder was doing the same thing and Izur could help but look at his father questioningly.

The man just shrugged and motioned for the boy to follow him, tomorrow would be a busy day.

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**Next Chapter: **Triple Whammy

**Info:** The teams been training and getting used to Izur's brand new companion, but now they've got the longest mission they've ever thought of. Its time to leave the village and visit some other places while doing more then one mission at a time. Can they handle all the new sights and challenges?


	19. Mission Arc: Fatty

Shattered Dreams

_**Shattered Dreams**_

_**Notes: **_Sorry about the slow update, works got me running around for eight-ten hours a day now. Anyways here's the next installment to Shattered Dreams.

_**Chapter 19: Triple Whammy**_

Izur and his wolf stood watching as some lady screamed at him over being too fast, he frowned as he watched her lips moved but couldn't hear her words. He had long since tuned the woman out, not caring what she had to say. He grabbed the next scroll he had to deliver and looked at the address written on it. Shrugging he and the wolf turned, bounding off to look for the house.

It wasn't easy since Izur was not completely sure of where everything was in his city, he'd mainly stuck within his portion of it. Not often venturing into the other sectors unless it was absolutely needed. Glaring the boy rounded another corner until he finally spied the correct building.

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The day had gone on much the same, with the three genin running around Kumogakure delivering high priority items, and then just the regular mail. Now though the three were watching their teacher pace in front of them as he spoke about the missions they had done that day. The three also ignored him for the most part, listening to his tone and not the words.

So when his tone started to change to a more serious note, their ears developed the ability to listen well again. Izur started to watch his teacher pace, blues eyes moving along with the older man. "All right the Raikage is very pleased with how well we did on our last C Rank mission and our entire D Rank mission. Maybe too pleased."

The genin's eyebrows rose at their teacher's words, they had not expected anyone to say that the Raikage could be too pleased with a groups abilities and performance. But then everyone also said Pigs couldn't fly but we all know the little bastards can.

"He had each of the chuunins that were with us report on how well you guys did in training against them. Armed with this knowledge and our mission record he has decided to give us several C Ranked missions to do all at one time." Masaru could easily tell that the genin had not grasped the full concept of the problem.

But he could also see that they were at least trying to understand. "We will more then likely be gone for two months and a week at the minimum. It could actually end up taking longer." The stunned looks on his teams faces, threatened to let loose peals of laughter from the dangerous shinobi, but with his years of experience he managed to hold them in.

"The first mission is to escort a merchant to the Village Hidden in the Leaves, Konohagakure. The second mission is to deliver a scroll to the leader of Konohagakure, their Hokage. The third is to take the same merchant from Konohagakure to Sunagakure and to deliver a scroll to the leader of Sunagakure, the Kazekage."

Masaru paused in his explanation, capable of seeing the stunned looks on their faces and showing some amusement at this. "Next is to travel to Iwagakure and pick up a different merchant, then we will bring him to Sunagakure and grab the original merchant taking both back to Konohagakure and finally back here. Making sure to bring any replies to the scrolls we have delivered with us which will count as separate missions if we have to."

Hachiro's eyes had gone large and he was grinning, not because he looked forwards to so long outside of the village and theoretically in danger the entire time. But because it meant that he would get to be away from his family for at least two whole months, anything the boy figured was better then staying with his family.

"So, pack for two weeks. We will be staying one week and two days in Konohagakure, overall. One week in Iwagakure, and one week in Sunagakure. Minimum if something arises we may stay longer in each place. For now, know that two weeks will get you what you need. Meet at the gates at three in the morning, dismissed."

The team nodded leaving with surprising haste to go and pack, plus prepare for their newest group of missions. Once Izur and his wolf landed at his house he took a quick look around noting that his father's absence obviously meant he was out on a mission. Izur and the animal moved towards the Kitchen where he quickly scribbled a note;

'Be gone for at least two months maybe longer.'

After that he went up to his room pulling out the black pack he had used for the last mission and starting to fill it with more shinobi tools. Once it was halfway filled with just weapons and medical supplies he moved and filled it with three extra pairs of clothes and a scroll that held two extra pairs of armor. After that he filled it with several scrolls that held food and containers for water.

Once finished he and the wolf moved into the backyard, going through the innumerable scrolls that were held in the shed to the side he pulled out five of them. The first two he had he opened immediately and quickly he stripped himself and his wolf of the weights they were wearing. Having done so he closed the seal back up and replaced it. Now he opened the next two, and appearing in front of him was an almost duplicate of what he'd just taken off.

There was only one difference, these weighed a lot more. Izur had been wearing One hundred pound weights only moments before and now he was putting the one hundred and fifty pound weights on his body. The other scroll held seven things, a weight for his wolf's tail, head, body, and each of its legs. The animal's weights were only at fifty pounds now, as it had finally mastered the twenty five pound weights.

He heard a wine and grinned before talking, "Yes Kat, you have to wear them. It makes us stronger." The animal, Katzinsky as he had been told to call his companion growled lowly. Shrugging Izur continued to strap the weights onto the wolf and watch it walk around awkwardly. Then he replaced the scrolls pulling out four more, these ones held simple numbers on them, and each had one word.

Two of the scrolls said human and then a number, one had the number 200 and the other had the number 250 on it. Then there were the other two scrolls which said animal and then one had the number 100 on it and the other had the number 150 on it. Grinning the boy took the scrolls to his pack placing them in there as well.

This way they could continue to train even while on the mission, and when they came back even Masaru-Sempai would be amazed by the amount of strength and speed that Izur had finally managed to attain. What with each limb and his chest holding the weights it would make him dangerous. With all of his stuff packed Izur went into his backyard with Katzinsky and the two started to train lightly.

More a way to warm up and prepare for the next morning then improve their abilities.

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Izur and team stood at the gates looking at a fat little man that definitely would not be able to keep up with the team. This would definitely add a lot of time between the trips to different places, especially because the man wanted to sleep at Inns the entire time. Not on the ground.

Izur frowned at the man as Masaru showed him a map and spoke while doing so, "So you see sir, you just won't be able to travel fast enough to make it to an inn on the second or fourth nights. Plus we will lose a lot of time stopping as early as some of these places will make us, it would be better to go strait to Konohagakure."

The little piggy man and all three genin had already remembered their first mission and wished he'd been among the pigs they'd killed. Apparently they'd missed him, how they weren't sure but they had. "I do not care, we will stop. I'm paying you so you have to listen to me." Masaru grit his teeth as he folded up his map and spoke in a tone that warned the Genin at least that he was angry.

"Sir, I will accept this decision of your but remember I'm responsible for your safety and my teams so I can veto anything that I deem too dangerous. Team gather." They did as quickly as possible surrounding Masaru so that he could whisper and not allow the fat man to hear.

"All right the Raikage wants me to appoint one of you as the Genin Leader of your team so that in case I must leave the three of you alone these is a leader." Masaru wasn't even bothering whispering, apparently he did not care of the Fat Man heard what he said. "This means that should I unfortunately happen upon my death on this mission or be injured in such a way that I can not fulfill my duties you would become the Mission Leader."

This information seemed to catch the fat man's attention and he glared at the three genin praying that it not be the shorter one of the bunch, for the hungry look that kid gave him was disturbing. And his little pet was no better either.

"So myself and the Raikage agreed that you, Izur, should be the leader for this mission at least. If I find that your leadership abilities are too far below what I need you will be replaced before the mission is over, clear?" Izur nodded, mumbling at a 'Hai' before looking at the fat man who might become his charge.

For once he didn't want to head job, not if it meant being the one who had to sacrifice great shinobi for a worthless piece of crap like that. Shrugging Izur looked back at Masaru who had already turned and started to speak. "Out formation will be as follows, Izur at the front with Katzinsky, then Hachiro behind him, then our client, next will be Hachiro, and finally myself to watch the back."

Izur nodded moving towards the gates now and just before he launched himself into the trees he remembered, the fat man would not be able to do such a thing. Growling to himself the boy set out, making the pace something a first year academy student could keep up with. Less then ten minuets into it however he heard the fat man calling for a break and Masaru acquiesced.

They weren't even half way as far as they had been when they had gone to be on their first C Rank mission. Izur snorted in anger as he glared at the fat man, he could see Masaru thinking heavily about what to do. "Izur-Taichou, if maybe you, Masaru-sensei, and I took turns carrying that man until we got to the next village and then he bought himself a horse we could go much faster."

Izur looked over at Hachiro and thought for a moment before speaking, "Thank you Hachiro-San, I will suggest this to Masaru-Sempai in your name." The boy nodded as Izur moved off and addressed Masaru making sure to mention that Hachiro had been the one to recommend it. Then Masaru turned on the Fat man speaking to him, once the team had been assured that he would buy a powerful horse at the next town Hachiro took the first shift in carrying him.

The one who carried the fat man had to be third in the line so that they wouldn't trip any traps or ambushes with the client, but also so that they wouldn't be the first hit by an attack from behind. After an hour of solid running Izur switched with Hachiro carrying the man without much thought for the first ten minuets.

After that Izur cursed all things that weighed more then they logically should, this man should not have weighed two thirds his current weights. But did he care about such inconsequential things? Nope. So the males of team eight had to toil even harder for eight hours that day just to carry some lazy bastard all the way to the town where he might be able to buy a horse.

Masaru threw the man down without much thought to whether or not he would be hurt and motioned towards the Inn. They could have continued on but they never would have reached the next Inn by dark, and the fat man insisted on having his way and complained loudly about the smallest inconvenience.

For example, like why he had to ride on Masaru's back with his sword still there, it made it horribly uncomfortable he said. Hachiro had snapped on the man telling him that if he was a little bit uncomfortable because of an itty bitty sword he should see how they felt having to carry his humongous ass everywhere, including all attached parts.

Izur had been hard pressed to turn his sudden laughter into a convincing fit of coughing. He wasn't even sure he had pulled it off correctly either, but it didn't matter any more. "Izur I want you and the team to take our client to the horse dealer and have him buy himself a good horse. One that can keep up for long runs with short rests, after that bring him to the inn."

"Hai." He turned and motioned for his two teammates to follow him, once they had gathered Izur spoke. "All right, Leiko I want you to walk a few feet in front of us and check the place out before we get their and act as point. Hachiro I want you to walk a couple feet behind us and watch to make sure no one is following, while I will walk with the client and act as his friend… or something."

Izur had looked disgusted at the thought of acting as the mans friend, but he'd said he would do it, if only because he didn't feel right forcing one of them to do it. Izur watched his two teammates head off to take up their positions, and sighing reluctantly he moved off to take his own next to the man. Katzinsky following and trying hard not to eat the pig like man.

"We'll be getting you that horse now, sir, so come along." He spoke to the man as though he were a child, making sure each word was slowly enunciated. He wanted to make sure that this man knew Izur wasn't going to be anything but a very disinterested bodyguard. It only took about ten minuets to get to the horse stalls, and once there Izur had Hachiro and Leiko report to him.

"Nothing in front of us, or here Izur-Taichou." Nodding the boy turned his head to look at Hachiro. "Same with the back, Izur-Taichou." With that Izur turned leading their fat client into the barn, once they had entered a bored looking ranch hand sat up slightly straighter.

"Do looking to get a horse for your son mister?" A sudden tick mark flew to the boys right eyebrow at the mans words and he slowly turned to face him his hand moving next to his kunai pouch. "I am not this man's son, never insinuate as much ever again or you'll be fearing for your life. Am I understood, Sir?"

Normally calling someone 'sir' would take away from the threat, but it seemed to be capable of sticking. The fat man was looking at Izur curiously though not speaking just yet. "Ahh… yeah, sure it is. So what can we get for you guys today?" Izur motioned at his client before speaking again.

"We need a horse that can run for long periods of time, with little breaks, and can still maintain a fast pace." The ranch hand seemed to broaden his already fake grin; apparently those horses were not cheap. "That's great. If you'll follow me I'll sow you to our stables." Izur nodded and started off, keeping the merchant with him and a kunai in his hand.

Leiko may have already checked but there was no guarantee that someone hadn't managed to sneak past her. Once inside the stables the man led them about three stalls down and started to speak. "All right I think this big guy would be the best for you, he's about 18 hands tall and can canter for maybe twenty minuets with you on his back."

When he looked at Izur as he spoke the boy raised an eyebrow and pointed at the fat man, "What about with him?" The ranch hand looked the fat man over before shrugging. "Maybe a minutes if he could stay in the saddle." Izur nearly dropped and started cursing at the client but held himself in.

"Well what horse will carry him, at a canter for long periods of time with little rest breaks?" The ranch hand looked at the boy as though he might have gone insane, as it was he seemed to have settled on the fact that the kid did not know what a horse could do. "None in this world, he couldn't ride a horse to begin with and he's too heavy for a horse to carry on its back."

Izur seemed to think for a moment before speaking this time, "If I cleaved off some of his fat?" The client turned to him with horrified eyes and shouted, "You will do no such thing! Part of the mission description was that no harm would come to me." Sighing the boy hung his head and whispered the word 'damn'. Now though he looked at the ranch hand before speaking, "What will then?"

The ranch hand tapped his jaw in thought before holding one finger up and looking excited, "A cart with two of our largest Clydesdales could do it, but not at a canter." Izur seemed to think for a couple of minuets before nodding and turning to the client. "You'll get the two animals he offers and whatever cart you want, if you don't you'll be running with us and will probably be late and have to sleep on the ground the whole way out."

The client grumbled something about bastards and demons but the boy ignored him, until he heard something about making sure in the next mission he put in a clause that said the shinobi would have to carry him if he did not want to walk. He decided not to comment knowing that even if the Raikage put that in only the freakiest shinobi would take it or none at all.

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The team had all been up since three in the morning, but the fat man _would not_ wake, not matter what they tried. It was only three thirty but they were still irritated. "You three head down to the river that goes in the direction we'll be headed. Get some water walking practice and scout the area. I'll bring our esteemed client as soon as I can get him awake.

They nodded and sped off, at least they would get some more training in, though after a week of already working hard on the technique the Genins were sure that with maybe a week more of it they would have perfected it. They weren't sure if their was anymore chakra exercises left, but if there were they felt sure it would take no more then a week or two to master that with Water and Tree walking already under their belts.

By the time Masaru had managed to get the client out of his bed, tie the horses to the cart, and get it down to where the genin were it was already five in the morning. When the genin had seen the cart approaching they'd jumped from wherever they'd been on the water to the shore and headed to meet their teacher and charge. All three looked mildly annoyed at having to wait for two hours, but at least they'd gotten to do something unlike their sensei.

Finally out and on their way, Izur was leading the group by being out in front of it by a good ten yards. Masaru was trailing it by being about twenty feet behind it, Hachiro was on the left as close to the cart as possible, and Leiko was on the right mimicking him. The Genins were thoroughly annoyed with their client, who called for a break every ten minuets saying his butt hurt.

Add that to the fact that the horses literally could go no faster then a slight jog, which would put them seriously behind schedule. With just shinobi it would have taken the team only about two days to reach Konohagakure. Well with non stop running and no rest breaks, then at Konohagakure they probably would have had to rest for a day before continuing. They had expected to make it to the Village hidden in the Leaves in five days.

That estimate had been upped to about seven days now, maybe longer if the man caused them to leave late again.

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The team had gone on strait through the night, with Masaru finally telling the client to 'shut the fuck up and go to sleep'. Apparently even he was not immune to being completely annoyed by some idiot who couldn't handle to ride comfortably in a cart over night. Then the next day he'd taken to complaining even louder.

So much so that Masaru had seriously contemplated knocking them man out. Finally he'd settled with allowing some of his repressed killing intent to leak through and had threatened the man if he didn't shut up and let them do their job. That his talking was giving them away to all sorts of people, that would better be left wherever they were then looking for his head.

On the fifth day the man had been surprisingly quiet, and as he said multiple times bored. The Genins and Masaru had been traveling for three days straight now, with an occasional break for the horses that needed it. Other then that though, there was no significant amount of sleep, but they had come upon one of the richer out skirted villages and the client had begged to be aloud to rest there.

First it had been because he needed to get up and move around, and be with people not some freaks like them. Then it had been because the children needed rest, they couldn't be expected to keep going like this. That stopped as soon as Izur pointed out that, yes they could keep going, and yes as shinobi they were expected to do so.

Finally it had been because the horses needed a serious break, and after all the traveling they had done weren't they a bit ahead of schedule now. Masaru had agreed after that point, but had made a point of saying they would leave at six in the morning no matter what. And since the man had over four hours of light still left if he even thought about complaining, Masaru would make sure he wouldn't be capable of doing so anymore.

With that out of the way the genin were sent to train in water walking until ten o'clock and were told they'd better be awake at three to go and train at it again in the morning. They'd nodded and set off, just glad to be rid of the idiot they had gotten for a client, and not one of the three had yet to learn the stupid fat man's name.

0O0O0O0O0O0O0O0O0O0O0O0O0O0O0O

It was two days later that they came upon the gates of Konohagakure, and all three of the genin looked slightly ragged and incredibly short on tempers. They'd already snapped at their client a few times, and he'd learned to shut up when they started to turn towards him. Even Masaru was at the end of his rope, so all three were glad to be pulling out their papers and looking forwards to at least something other then _him._

Izur's companion, Katzinsky had stopped asking if he could eat the man. He had, apparently, decided that anything that complained that much alive would be even worse dead, especially if he was in someone's stomach. Izur as the first one to reach the gates stopped before he could enter them, Kat sitting beside him and they looked into the village with a critical eye.

The two chuunins sitting at the table were looking at him carefully; they'd stood up as soon as he'd stopped in front of the gate. Though, having not said anything just yet they'd finished eyeing him, and were watching the cart, along with the rest of Izur's team approach. Masaru jumped over the cart and landed next to Izur holding a hand out for the boy's papers.

Izur frowned but handed them over and watched as Masaru approached the two handing over the papers silently. Izur looked over his shoulder to see Hachiro and Leiko had come up next to them and the fat man was surprisingly silent. Apparently he even understood the gravity of this situation as well. The chuunins nodded having inspected each of the passports carefully and looked at the fat man as well.

They would be taking no chances with Kumogakure's shinobi this time around. "All right, you're cleared. You shinobi have to report to the Hokage and make sure he knows as well who you are. You'll then be taken to your embassy from the Hokage's office." A slight flick of the chuunins wrist and four ANBU appeared in front of them. "These ANBU will escort you there."

The Shinobi nodded going back into formation around their charge and starting forwards, the atmosphere was thick with tension, and Izur vaguely wondered why. He knew that his country and Konohagakure were not at war, but they weren't on the best of terms either. But to assign four ANBU for one Jounin and three genin was a tad bit… excessive in his mind.

Maybe not though, he knew his country would have done the same even with the best of allies. But then everything he'd been aught told him that his country suffered from severe paranoia where ease other countries, or most other countries, did not. Shrugging the team was entered the Hokage's building having trekked through the whole city, and Izur realized that he hadn't taken in too much of his surrounding.

Just the route he needed to get from the gate to here, and back if need be. They were stopped outside the Hokage's office and told to wait; a moment later they were let in to see an old man. He was wearing the Hokage's robes, but to Izur no one that old could possibly be strong enough to hold the position.

Maybe the guy had a Henge over himself to make them underestimate them. "Your Raikage sent word about your group heading here on several C Ranked missions. I understand that one of them was to deliver a scroll to me?" The man formed it into a question, despite the fact that it should have been a statement.

"Hai, Hokage-Sama. Izur, the scroll." Izur looked mildly surprised that his sempai had called the other man 'Sama' but maybe he was just being diplomatic. Izur reached into his Kunai pouch and pulled out an ordinary looking scroll that had 'weapons' written on it. Opening it he bit his thumb and smeared the blood on the now opened scroll. Out popped a more innocuous looking one, which had 'Food' on it.

Passing it over to Hachiro, the red headed boy opened that one spreading his blood and caught the next scroll which read, 'leaves' and threw this one to Leiko who did the same only to catch a different scroll which said 'clothes' and threw that one to Masaru. By this time the Hokage and four ANBU in the room had sweat dropped at the excessive security that Kumogakure had put around the scroll.

Masaru spread his blood in seals, and then using his chakra activated them to catch three scrolls that came out. He offered them to the ANBU that looked to be their leader with a grin waiting for them to be inspected. By that time the genin had already wrapped up the opened and apparently worthless scrolls.

The ANBU handed the scrolls to the Hokage who nodded and spoke again, "Well I'm glad to see Cloud has not lost their security. My ANBU team here will take you to your quarters. Also, since this is the first cloud team to come not concerning the Chuunin/Jounin Exams, and since that incident the major clans here have requested that you dine with them and accept their hospitality for a night."

Masaru seemed to hesitate for a moment before nodding, "We would be honored to do so, Hokage-Sama. Would you convey our gratitude to the clans and please have them send a representative by so we can arrange something. We shall only be here for a week before we must escort our client to the next village though we will return several weeks after that." The Hokage nodded and waved them off in a dismissal.

Masaru felt a certain amount of dread at the thought of all those dinners and then staying the night at their homes, it could be a trap after all.

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**Next Chapter: **Clans of Konohagakure

**Info:** The team will be in Konoha for a week, but what will happen to them during their visits to the five major clans of Konoha. Plus what will they do during the day?


	20. Mission Arc: Politics, Pranks,and Advice

Chapter 20: Of Politics and Advice

_**Shattered Dreams**_

_**Disclaimer: **_I Do not Own Naruto or any of its characters/ideas/content/whatever else you can come up with.

_**Notes: **_I apologize for the wait, works been really hectic. Anyways, after Tuesday I have it pretty easy for a week so I should be able to churn out the rest of the Konohagakure part of Triple Whammy.

_**Chapter 20: Of Politics and Advice**_

The team had arrived at their rooms over an hour ago, but hadn't unpacked they'd been discussing with five people they'd never met when they would have dinner with them. Apparently there were five major clans in Konohagakure now-a-days. The Hyuuga Clan, the Inuzuka Clan, the Nara Clan, the Akimichi Clan, and the Aburame Clan.

Masaru had to apparently decide which clans they would stay with first and so on and so forth without trying to offend them. Izur had suggested that they draw from a hat so that it was completely random. The Inuzukas had agreed and the Nara had said it was the least troublesome way to do it. The Hyuuga had been completely against it saying that it was not proper protocol, the Akimichi didn't care, and the Aburame had said nothing at all.

It was kind of odd, actually how quiet they had been and Izur looked at their representative with curious eyes. He decided that after they left he would learn about these clans so that he could speak with them later. The Inuzuka representative, a sixteen year old girl that was named Hana and was the Heir to her clan spoke suddenly.

"We've wasted an hour, can we please just decide already?" Izur nodded in agreement, but his input didn't really matter. "I agree with the Inuzuka, we can not be wasting time here it should not have taken so long." Izur looked at the Aburame, a Shibi or something like that. He wasn't too sure since the man spoke so quietly.

"Fine. We will enjoy the hospitality of the Aburame's first, if that is fine with you Aburame-Dono?" Masaru looked at the quiet man who nodded, and looked maybe just a tad happier. "Next we will move to the Akimichi's, if that suits you Akimichi-Dono?" The man nodded, and Izur wondered what they would be fed there, obviously too much.

"Next we will go to the Hyuuga's, if that suits you Hyuuga-San?" Izur almost had to snicker at his Senpai's dealing with this man. The Hyuuga's were the only clan who had not sent their heir or current clan head to speak with them. "Hai, Zetsumei-San." Nodding Masaru looked at the Nara's, "Next would be your clan, Nara-Dono." The man nodded, and mentioned something about it being troublesome.

Izur had long since tuned the man out, "And finally, would be you Inuzuka-Dono." The girl looked to her three dogs who gave yips of what they took to be agreement since she nodded. "Outstanding, My team and I will be pleased to dine with you Aburame-Dono tomorrow if that is convient." The man nodded and stood to leave, Izur watched wondering why it had taken so long.

Shrugging, he decided not to worry about it. He'd been assigned to walk them out and as he was following them towards the door he started to wonder where Kat had gotten off to. Though that thought was quickly taken care of when he heard a snarl at the door and it was knocked open to reveal an angry wolf.

That was currently looking at three surprised, but quickly recovering dogs that had lowered themselves already. "Shut up, Kat." The boy's sudden response to the animal surprised most of them but the wolf glared at the boy sending a snarl his way. "We can't and you know why, I already explained so give it up."

A sudden snort and a chuckle from Inuzuka Hana had Izur looking at her curiously. "He is your companion, yes?" It was really the first time he'd been addressed by one of the delegates without Masaru around so he just nodded, not sure how to respond. "He's eager to fight something as well?" A nod sufficed for his answer again but he was looking at her curiously. "Well the Inuzukas enjoy having a good spar before we eat so when you come for dinner we would be glad to see how you two work together in a spar. You're close in age to my younger brother so we'll set something up."

Izur grinned suddenly and nodded in acceptance, unknown to him the other clans with the exception of the Nara's were actually contemplating the same thing now that the Inuzukas had brought it up.

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The three Genins were wandering around Konoha for now, they'd been told to go and 'look around' for the rest of the day and train if they had time to do so. Masaru had mentioned a good spot just outside of the village that would be a good place for them.

With hands in his pockets Izur followed his two teammates; he'd wanted to go straight to the training area but had been overruled. He may have been the leader but when there's no one to lead it becomes a rather empty title. He looked up trying to guess who might be shinobi and how they were reacting to their presence.

He stopped suddenly however his eyebrows going up into his forehead as he watched a man who was obviously a shinobi walk down a street a little orange book close to his face. "That's cool." The young boys teammates turned to look at him and see him wandering off and they took off after him wondering what was going on.

"Ahh Izur, what in hells name are you doing?" Izur ignored them for a moment until he turned into a book store and started to look around with curiosity. He'd passed three others on the way to this one, but this one specially catered to shinobi, it even said so out front.

Grinning the boy started pulling out book after book until he had more then thirty piled in his hands. Approaching the counter he put them up grinning madly at the stunned man. "Uh, you sure you want all these kid?" Nodding Izur waited while the man rang up the total before speaking again.

"It'll be ten percent extra to seal them into a scroll, do you want that done." The boy froze for an instant wondering if he should, but after looking at the pile of books again he figured there was no way he could read them all in a week. "Yes, please do so." Nodding the older man started to pull out a scroll and make a symbol for each book, he asked Izur to donate a little blood and the boy did.

Finally after a half an hour the man offered him a scroll and Izur paid with the ridiculous amount of money he'd made over his time of being a Genin. He still had more then seven eighths of the money left too.

Once he walked outside, with one of the books now in his face Leiko bashed him, hard, on the top of the head. "What the hell, Gaki? Drag us over here and don't even tell us why." Izur looked surprised and realized he would have to learn to read the book and pay attention to his surroundings at the same time.

"Gomen, Leiko-San. It's just I saw this Konohagakure shinobi walking by and he was reading and it looked… neat and I figured what the hell I could learn something while walking around and it wouldn't hurt any…" The boy trailed off wondering if his explanation was enough.

"You should have told us sooner, Izur-Taichou. It was rather disrespectful not to." The boy nodded muttering another sorry before the team could head off again.

0O0O0O0O0OO0O0O0O0O0O0O0O0O0O0O0O0O

It wasn't more then twenty minuets later that the team had sat down to have lunch, Izur periodically lifting the book to check his surroundings and make sure he had gotten everything. It wasn't as easy as he had assumed it would be.

But then, if it had been it wouldn't have been nearly as interesting as it was. Leiko and Hachiro had already found his choice of book interesting; it was titled 'Basics of Konohagakure'. Izur was doing one of his repeated lifts to check the area when his eyes landed on a man in a bright green jump suit being tailed by a boy in the same outfit.

Eyebrows raised at the whole table as the Kumogakure Genin's stared at Konoha's freakiest shinobi, well in their opinion at least. Izur had half stood as he observed their movements with the outfit and he grinned suddenly looking at Leiko and Hachiro having remembered what they'd said with the books.

"Hey, guy's I'm gonna go ask where they got those outfits. Look, they're completely suited towards Taijutsu." He didn't see the hit that smashed into his nose until he found himself on the ground and jumping up looking rather angry. "If you even attempt to dress like that, I will kill you Izur. I swear, those… idiots are complete laughing stocks you'd embarrass the village."

Izur froze for a moment wondering if that were true, he didn't know what was so wrong with the outfits. Oh he understood the haircuts and eyebrows but not the outfit it was after all perfect with movements not restricting them at all. Shrugging the boy grumbled and went back to reading his book, though he missed the looks his teammates were giving the newest shinobi they'd see.

Apparently Leiko at least liked the clothing this one wore. It was just a matter if they could find any.

0O0O0O0O0O0O0OO0O0O0O0O0O0O0

Leiko and Hachiro had decided after the incident with the green clad shinobi that taking Izur out of the village was for his (and their) own good. So they'd ended up training until dusk and rushing back to the village to beat the gates. It was morning now and the two older genin of Kumogakure Team Eight had woken to find that Izur and Masaru were already gone.

Izur had left a note saying he'd gone to look at Konohagakure's Academy and training grounds if they needed him, Masaru had left a note telling them to be back at the apartment by three in order to get ready to meet the Aburames.

With Izur though, he'd been up since his usual time at three and had trained until seven O'clock with his book and water walking at the same time. He knew he had helped his chakra control by multitasking and he knew that with one more three hour session he could have water walking down pat.

Now though he had switched books, having finished Basics of Konoha, he'd moved onto Advanced Information on Konoha. Plus at the moment he was sitting in a tree watching the Academy wondering when they started classes, or if they had started when they got out.

He was curious about his competition in the approaching Chuunin Exam; he continued to read through his book until he yelped in sudden surprise hitting the ground hard. He rolled coming up in a fighting stance with a Kunai in replace of the book he'd held.

His eyes lit on the short, blonde haired, blue eyed, orange clad boy in front of him in surprise. The boy was laughing, and appeared to be hyperventilating at the same time. Eyebrows lowered into a glare at the other boy as he shook his now soaking wet hair and glared even harder at the not even genin level boy in front of him.

"What was that for?" His voice had dropped several octaves in his anger, but it didn't seem to faze the other boy. "No reason, I just felt like it. But it was so funny; you should have seen your face." Izur growled low, before speaking again.

"I don't see what's so funny about assaulting a visiting shinobi." The orange clad boy stopped laughing for a moment to look at Izur before starting up again. "You're not a shinobi…. Eh what's that?" Izur looked at the boy like he was staring at a strange and freakish disease.

"That would be my Kumogakure Hitae-ate marking me as a Shinobi of the Lightning Country. Hence a _visiting shinobi_." He stressed the last two words to make sure they got across. "Riiight, well it doesn't matter because one day you'll be bowing to me."

"Sure I will." The sarcasm was evident in the younger boy's tone. "You will, I'm Uzumaki Naruto and I _will_ be the Hokage one day." Izur nodded in agreement hoping that the loud kid would go away if someone just agreed with him. "That's nice, but I'm not interested Uzumaki-Khouhai."

Naruto looked confused for a moment, "Whatever, anyways what's your name?" Izur frowned looking at the other kid for a moment before letting his eyes wander again. There really was no one else to observe so it wouldn't hurt to talk to the kid, but really he was too loud and annoying.

Sighing, Izur decided it wouldn't kill him to reply. "Himiloh Izur, Genin of Kumogakure." As Izur spoke his eyes drifted across the grounds again before looking back at Naruto's. "Eh… Kumogakure? You said that before, where is it?"

Now it was Izur's turn to look confused, but he did his best to hide it. "You mean they don't teach you of the other Four Great Shinobi Villages at your shinobi academy?" Naruto nodded and pointed at the building with a dismissive gesture. "Oh they do…. I think. But I was sleeping that day or maybe I'd ditched. Not sure which one."

Izur frowned and launched into a speech he had heard his teachers give to other students all the time. "A shinobi of any caliber is worth nothing if their minds are not as strong as their bodies. That's especially true for shinobi, like you, who want to reach such a high position. You'll need a powerful mind and body, which you apparently don't have."

His tone was cold and condescending and he wasn't even sure why he'd went into the little rant. Naruto looked thoughtful and angry, "Yea well prove it. I bet I can beat you in anything." Izur grinned and thought about it before replying. "Fine, lets have a spar using any and all shinobi abilities. But If I win you have to swear to take any advice I give you and act on it."

Naruto looked at Izur for a moment before nodding, "Fine, but if I win you have to wear my outfit until we meet again and you have to run naked through Konoha." Izur looked annoyed at what the other boy wanted if he won but agreed with a handshake anyways.

Moving several feet away from Naruto Izur dropped into one of the Tae Kwando stances he'd learned in the past months. "Let's begin then Uzumaki-San." Naruto grunted in approval before pulling several Kunai out of the pouch at his side.

Throwing them at Izur he followed them his fist drawn back and a grin on his face. "I'm gonna kick your ass Izur." Izur grinned using the Kunai in his own hands to deflect the twelve that had been sent at him. He did a knee dip going down before flipping and straightening his legs smashing them into Naruto's stomach and landing the flip in a crouched position.

Naruto had taken the hit to the stomach and was already heading back at Izur his own Kunai's at the ready, but Izur threw his own. Watching as Naruto attempted to dodge them instead of deflecting, grinning the younger boy pulled shuriken out attaching wire to them at the same time and threw them.

Throwing them his own hands flashing through seals he grinned as Naruto dodged the weapons but didn't see the Ninja wire, as the shuriken attached to a tree behind Naruto Izur finished his hand seals and drew his head back. "Suiton: Teppoudama."

The water technique traveled along the wire and Izur finished his second set of hand seals just as it connected with Naruto's surprised face. "Raiton: Raikyuu." Izur had used the Ninja Wire soaked in water as an extra conductor and as Naruto touched the wire spluttering from the water hit, he suddenly screeched as a matching ball of electricity hit him in the same spot.

"Izur disappeared landing in front of Naruto one knee on his chest and a hand holding a kunai to the boy's throat. "Yield." Naruto nodded his agreement, and as Izur let him up and started to speak. "So you've lose you ready to follow some advice?"

"Yea, but only if you tell me what those techniques were. I mean they were cool, I've never seen anything like them." Izur looked slightly overwhelmed at the other kids attitude before nodding. "Fine. The first was Suiton Teppoudama, it's a technique that draws water together and forms it into a hard compact ball and then fires it at an opponent. Raiton Raikyuu is similar only with electricity; I combine them to double the effects of Raikyuu."

Naruto's eyes had gone large during the explanation and he could be seen nodding and maybe even drooling a bit. Izur wasn't too sure on that point. "Anyways, first part of my advice changes your clothes. Orange is too bright and makes you stand out too much, if you want to be a strong shinobi and become Hokage you want people to recognize you as a serious shinobi. Not a joke. Go for darker colors, maybe what you have on in black, brown, or dark blue."

Naruto nodded, and Izur sighed, realizing there was no way the kid would remember all of this. So he reached into his pouch and watched as Naruto tensed slightly. "Don't worry." With that he pulled out a scroll and opening it, watched as a pen appeared with it. "Here take notes on this, you'll want it." Naruto nodded happily, before replying. "So is orange completely out of the question?"

Izur shook his head, letting a chuckle escape. "No, just tone it down a bit and make it removable in case you have to go on a mission where you don't want to stand out so much." Naruto nodded writing it down before Izur continued. "Next would be to master all of the shinobi basics, you obviously have not done so."

Naruto nodded, but paused in his righting, "What are the Shinobi Basics?" Izur sweat dropped at the kid before speaking again. "That would be the following techniques; Bikou Ninjutsu, Bunshin, Henge, Kai, Kakuremino, Kawarimi, Nawanuke, Shunshin, and Kinobori no Waza."

Naruto suddenly looked mulish as he spoke, "But all those techniques are stupid and boring there's nothing…" Izur frowned before snapping at Naruto, "Shut up. Look they may not be all flashy or anything but they help develop chakra control and increase your abilities. You have to learn to walk before you can run. Anyways if you're not going to take my advice I'm leaving, I shouldn't be helping you anyways. You'll just be an opponent later on."

Naruto looked like he was about to flip, having become suddenly frantic, "No, no wait. Come on help me out, I'll owe you big time when I'm Hokage." Izur highly doubted that Naruto would ever be Hokage but he shrugged, it would give him a challenge come the Chuunin exams if the boy followed the advice. "Fine, the third part will be the change your attitude. Don't brag or be so loud. It's fine to be nice… I guess. But be quieter and hide your abilities don't talk about them so much. In other words be humble."

Naruto nodded scribbling furiously, "Next, improve your Taijutsu with weights on every limb and your weaponry by throwing them at posts and weighting them. You need better accuracy and you need to be faster." He paused again thinking about what he should say next. "Fourth, learn some specialization jutsu. Like my Suiton and Raiton techniques you'll…."

Naruto interrupted again at this point, "How do I know what to learn? Oh I know fire would be so cool it would…" Izur frowned again at the older yet far more enthusiastic boy. "Do shut up. Anyways it isn't always what's 'cool' so much as what's practical. Here…" Digging into both pockets he frowned reaching into his Kunai and shuriken holsters before pulling out a small crumpled piece of paper.

"This is chakra paper it tells what types of elements you can use with ease. Just channel your chakra into it and if I know a technique I'll give you the name. It'll be up to you to find out more techniques for that element and how to use them." Naruto nodded taking the paper he forced a ridiculously large amount of chakra into the paper looking confused as it reacted.

First the paper ripped in half and Izur nodded thinking over his techniques then looked suddenly surprised as one side lit on fire and burnt to ashes and the other turned to dust. Blinking the boy shrugged. "You have three elements. Your primary is wind, that's why the paper split. Your secondaries are Fire, the reason it burnt, and Earth, the reason it turned to ash."

"A good fire technique to learn would be Katon: Endan, I don't know it but my father does. And a good wind technique would be Fuuton: Fuusajin, which I do know. I don't know of any earth techniques so that's your own deal." Naruto nodded looking up having finally finished scribbling more notes.

"Your fifth and final piece of advice, is to study, study, and study some more. You need to know everything about the shinobi world as possible. Your village's history, other villages names and powerful shinobi, how to calculate shuriken speed against wind in seconds and such. Become smarter and practice coming up with plans in split seconds."

Izur grinned; if this kid could do all that and be in this years Chuunin Exam then Izur knew he'd be looking at a good challenge. "If you can do that and improve upon all of them far beyond anyone else then you could be a good shinobi." Izur turned, wondering if the kid would get to work straight away or laze around.

"Anyways I've got training to day, so if you get anything done and I'm still in your village comes show me." Naruto nodded waving and speaking, "All right and next time we fight I will kick your ass. Thanks for the help Izur."

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**Technique Names and Descriptions:**

Raiton: Raikyuu: Lighting – Lightning Ball. A simple ball of lightning formed after a short series of hand seals that can be shot using two metal objects as a conductor.

Suiton: Teppoudama: Water – Water Shot. A ball of water shot in a single direction after a series of short hand seals.

Bikou Ninjutsu – Shadowing Stealth. The ability to follow an opponent without being caught, from hiding in the environment to cloaking oneself.

Bunshin – Clone. The ability to create a copy of ones self that can not do anything other then walk around and talk.

Henge – Transform. The ability to change one's appearance into anything else by using their chakra.

Kai - Cancel. The ability to stop chakra flow to the brain for a brief moment in time, in order to cancel a Genjutsu.

Kakuremino – Magic Cloak of Invisibility. The ability to use your chakra to blend with the background.

Kawarimi – Body Replacement. To replace your body with a nearby moveable object.

Nawanuke – Escaping. The ability to use your chakra to loosen something.

Shunshin – Body Flicker. The ability to move incredibly fast using your chakra from one destination to another, usually using leaves or some other item to cover your movement.

Kinobori no Waza – Art of Tree Walking. To be able to walk up a tree using chakra in your feet and not using your hands.

Katon: Endan - Fire – Fireball. A small ball of fire shot from the mouth in a single direction.

Fuuton: Fuusajin - Wind – Dust Wind. Fired using a weapon, it loosens the ground disruption an opponents footing and putting dust in their eyes to hinder their sight.

**Next Chapter: **Dinner with the Aburame's

**Chapter Info: **The team dines with the Bug Clan of Konoha, how will things turn out? Also Izur and his travels bring shim into contact with more of Konoha's people plus more training time for him.


	21. Mission Arc: Arrogance and Bugs

Shattered Dreams

_**Shattered Dreams**_

_**Disclaimer:**_ I do not own anything related to Naruto.

_**Notes:**_ I'm so lazy right now, but that's because of my stupid job. –Silently takes a serrated blade to my job- anyways I apologize again for the wait. I'll _try_ to get the Konoha section of Triple Whammy out of the way before the end of this week.

**Chapter 21: Dining With the Aburame's**

Izur and team were sitting in front of a small lake about three miles away from the Hidden Leaf's village. They had finally managed to master the water walking technique, and had been having races across the surface of the water all morning. Masaru had not told them what they could do once they had mastered it and since it was only eight in the morning and they had to train till ten they were discussing possible things.

Izur was all for some Taijutsu training, saying that it would be hard to beat them if they were both physically strong and fast. Leiko wanted to do Ninjutsu training and exchange techniques again, while Hachiro was all for doing 'concentration' training. This was apparently lying back and sleeping for two hours while concentrating on things that made you happy.

Leiko and Izur had vetoed this immediately saying it wouldn't help them with anything. "Come on Izur, just agree with me. You know you want to learn some more of the cool techniques I have." Izur growled at her as she egged him on to do as she wanted. Growling he leaned back thinking on what would be the best compromise. "Wait… Leiko I don't even know many of your other techniques. So how about we have a battle royal and see what each other is capable of."

Leiko started to protest but Izur continued on quickly, "Look think of it this way; we get to practice both Tai and Ninjutsu and then next training session we can practice your Ninjutsu thing. Plus I've been placed in charge remember? I think it's time to be decisive and pick something. We are wasting valuable time here."

Leiko and Hachiro both grumbled about something that he choose not hear, but he did know it wasn't about the same thing. Drawing a Kunai from each of the holsters he had on his legs he grinned. "All right only rules are no maiming, serious damage, or killing. Yield if you must and if you lose you have to do push ups, sit ups, and laps while water walking at the same time."

He liked being able to set these rules, he realized. It made things simpler, especially since he didn't think he'd be out early at all. He figured he could probably take either of his teammates alone and together they could beat him, but not without damage. That was, he knew, only if he removed the weights he wore.

"Let's start then." Izur launched himself towards his female teammate; she rivaled him in strength and speed so it was smart to remove her first. He also wanted to show her that he'd already mastered the Katon jutsu she'd show him. Drawing back his left arm he swung forwards, only to have her catch the kunai on her own.

Drawing back he swung his leg towards her head feeling it be caught in her free arm. Twisting he brought his other knee down towards the top of her head, forcing her to let go of his leg and duck below the kick. Landing he swung the same leg to connect with her head only to have the forgotten Hachiro connect a punch to his head.

Izur stumbled backwards his head ringing from having his ear hit, but shaking it off he charged at Hachiro taking his right hand and pushing it towards his chest to try and hit him with the kunai there. But the other boy jumped back throwing some shuriken at him. Izur dropped quickly hitting the ground before rolling to avoid more of the deadly weapons. He pushed himself back up thinking it was time to move this fight forwards.

He formed some quick hand seals around the kunai and on either side of him his clones appeared. Hachiro watched the five Izur's as they charged, unsure if any were Rai, Mizu, or regular Bunshins. He knew that the Rai Bunshins would be the most dangerous to him.

But as Izur managed to connect three solid punches activating his TarenKen technique three of his clones were killed by kunai and shuriken shocking both the boys. They turned and charged Leiko in concert seemingly forgetting that moments before they had been fighting each other.

Both Izur and Hachiro slid to a stop as Leiko finished her hand seals with the 'horse' symbol and said the simple words of Goukakyuu no Jutsu before sending a massive fireball towards them. Izur reacted faster then his teammate his own hands flashing through seals before slamming his hands into the ground. "Doton: Doro Gaeshi no jutsu." His own voice echoed out as a large wall slammed up between the two shinobi.

A moment later the fireball connected and burnt through the wall but failed to go any further. A grin spread across the young shinobi's face as his hands flashed through more seals and he drew back his head. "Katon: Housenka no Jutsu."

Hachiro snapped his head over to Izur, "You mastered both?" Nodding the other boy ducked quickly and did a sweep kick on his stunned teammate watching as it hit and he turned into a puddle of water. _"Damn, Mizu Bunshin, but when?"_ Izur didn't have time to think of that anymore as Leiko appeared next to him swinging her Kunai at his head.

She had no burns on her but she did have three cuts where the shuriken he had hidden in the Housenka had struck her by surprise. He ducked, but not fast enough to avoid all of the slashed, a small cut appeared on his cheek before he managed to back pedal enough to avoid her. He moved out onto the water drawing her towards him, hoping to use some of his Raiton jutsus after he knocked her in.

As his hands started to flash through more jutsus, he stopped when a voice spoke. "Suiton: Daibakuryuu." Both Leiko and Izur turned to see Hachiro creating a massive whirlpool and both the Genins were sent flying into it as they lost their hold on the once calm waters before them.

Izur's hands flashed through some quick hand seals, he knew that Hachiro had mastered Rai Bunshin as he'd seen the other boy use it at least once before. And he was not going to be on the receiving end of a Rai Bunshin killing itself while being in water.

Suddenly he found himself staring at Hachiro who had sent a shuriken flying towards a clone of himself now in the water. He attacked the boy from behind now, kicking him towards the water only to watch as that too was a Rai Bunshin. Grunting from the sudden pain of being electrocuted he watched as Leiko jumped out of the water looking worse for the wear.

Grinning though he drew two kunai again and formed some hand seals. "Raiton: Raikyuu." He watched as the small electrical ball made contact with the water twenty feet away from his female teammate and she shuddered as more volts of electricity coursed through her body. But she turned using that extra bit of electricity to create ten of her own Rai Bunshins and sent them at Izur.

And they looked pissed. Dropping back away from them to get ready for a Taijutsu match Izur was grinning, this was looking to be a pretty good idea so far. Even if it did hurt a lot.

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Masaru stood watching as his genin's were running around on the water panting, doing push ups and sit ups on it as well and looking mildly confused. He hadn't thought they would get it down so quickly. But this wasn't what held all of his attention. He could see massive puddles of water far away from the lake where they shouldn't be. Burn marks, and the remains of an earth wall that looked like it had taken a massive hit from something.

Frowning he snapped his fingers getting the teams attention; apparently they had not felt him approach. Speaking, in a cool tone he started in on them, "We were supposed to meet at ten thirty why are you still here?" They blushed in realization as they looked up to see the sun indicated the time to be between eleven fifteen and eleven forty five. Frowning Izur looked back at Masaru before speak.

"Apologies Masaru-Sempai we lost track of time during our training. It will not happen again." Masaru nodded before speaking again, "And what type of training have you been doing?" He could see slight grins appear on both Izur and Leiko's face and a frown on Hachiro's face.

He also took in their rather, battered appearances. They looked wet, had burn marks, were covered in dirt in some places, and Leiko's hair seemed to be standing on end despite the fact that it was wet which suggested electricity had been coursing through her recently.

"We had a battle royal where we fought each other at the same time to test our abilities after we had finally mastered the water walking technique. Hachiro's the best strategist of us and managed to beat both me and Leiko out. So after the battle royal we started practice long term chakra control by training on the water."

Masaru nodded; at least they had been training hard, If the surrounding area and their appearances was anything to go by. He wasn't really surprised that it had turned into a match of who could strategize the best; while either Leiko or Izur could beat Hachiro alone neither could do it in a long term thing that required massive strategizing.

Tactical plans were better for both of them, though even Leiko beat Izur at that. Though her ability at strategy was a lot worse off then his was. It was a pretty evenly matched team in the end. "Fine. At least you didn't slack off. You have until four to relax, and then you _will_ meet me at the rooms before we head off to have dinner with the Aburame's."

The three nodded and Izur waved to his two teammates as he headed back to Konoha. He needed to grab some more of his books and up his weights again; the ones he was wearing had become too simple for him to move around in. Though in fights like he had just had, they were definitely hindering, he paused in his thoughts wondering if he should leave them as they were until he left Konoha.

It would be good to be completely adjusted to them before moving up, he frowned though as he debated the pro's and con's of his new problem. A deep growl drew him from his thoughts and his head turned and eyes light up slightly as Katzinsky approached him. "So where've you been?"

The wolf just glowered at him before growling a response; Izur shrugged watching the wolves' movements. He didn't seem completely adjusted either, so Izur decided base don that he would wait. "We need to start training together again. Plus I'm going to up our weights the day before we leave for Sunagakure, Kat. I'm thinking today we should do several laps around Konoha before lunch. Do you agree?"

The wolf looked dejected at the thought of training more with the insane boy he had bonded with but yipped something at him that was at least something akin to agreement. Though it had a lot of nasty little words and undertones in it, Izur just shrugged it away. "We'll do a hundred laps then. Fifty in the trees, you still need to get used to that, and the rest on the ground."

The dog sighed looking even more worn out then before, but the boy ignored that as he set up a jog. He would read while they ran, it would be good training. This way he could get used to paying attention to his surroundings while moving at a high speed.

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It was one and both Izur and Kat were exhausted from the runs around Konoha. Izur was sporting many bruises and small cuts from the trees, but he was finally getting the hang of reading and paying attention at the same time. The wolf just looked tired as he lay at the boy's feet not really paying attention to much around him.

They had entered a small restaurant, which served tea and other small snacks. Izur figured it was too late to get a real lunch as he wouldn't be hungry for dinner then but he did need to eat something. "Watcha want Kat?" The wolf didn't even bother to lift his head as he growled something at the boy.

"I'll take two of you're daily special then." He told the waitress who nodded leaving to get the food and placed another pot of tea in front of the tired looking boy. More like the stinky boy too, every time she came near him she could smell him. Frowning Izur watched her walk away shrugging as he refilled his cup.

It would be a good ten minuets before his food arrived. He leaned back sipping the hot drink and reading the new book in front of him; it was titled weapons as he had already finished reading all the books on Konohagakure. Now he was looking up on basic information on all weapons.

His thoughts were interrupted as an annoyed and childish voice came to him. "You're in my seat." Izur turned to see who was talking only to find a black haired boy wearing a blue shirt and white pants, talking to someone at another table. Izur frowned as he looked at the fat man sitting there, of all people it had to be his client who were being messed with. Frowning the boy wondered if he should help, he knew he should but he didn't want to.

Izur stood slowly his hand dropping into his pocket as he fingered a kunai there and spoke slowly. Katzinsky had already stood and turned with him. "I suggest you leave the man alone, kid." It was degrading to speak down to someone older then you and call them that. But as a Genin Izur was officially considered an adult so he could address anyone under eighteen, or lacking a headband with that name.

The older boy turned to him and a smirk appeared on the fat man's face as he spoke. "That's right brat, this is one of my hired ninja so you'd better leave now." Izur frowned over at the man keeping a tight grip on the kunai in his pocket as he watched the taller and older male turn towards him. "No one this young could be a shinobi but in a much weaker village." Izur raised an eyebrow wondering if he should point out names of Konoha shinobi that had been younger then him.

He decided not to, a fight would not be worth it. "Do not insult my village again, or you will find yourself subject to a duel. Kumogakure style." Obviously this arrogant prick didn't know what that meant, and Izur wasn't about to explain either. Katzinsky choose this time to snarl and draw attention to him. Izur fought down the chuckle that threatened to come out.

Well it was true, this guy was even more arrogant then Izur could appear to be. "Hn. It doesn't change the fact that he is in my seat." By this time a manager had made their way over to them and the man bowed to Izur before the other boy. "Uchiha-San I apologize but you will have to sit some where else for today."

Izur felt his surprise and fought it down, this kid was an Uchiha, and then that meant he was Sasuke because he highly doubted the older brother would be in Konoha right now. While Izur had been fighting his emotions Sasuke and the manager had been having an argument. "I trust this is handled, sir?" The manager and Sasuke looked up to see Masaru standing next to Izur, the boy looked obviously annoyed.

He was seething that Masaru wouldn't let him handle the situation. "Oh, yes of course Zetsumei-Sama. Uchiha-San here will have no problem sitting some where else today and…"

Izur suddenly covered his ears as he heard a shriek of what sounded like delight. Though why anyone would shrike that way for being happy was unknown to him. Izur unplugged his ears and looked at the four females that had busted into the small restaurant and growled at them. He was angry at having been subjected to such a noise and now they interrupting an important conversation.

Masaru put a hand on the boys shoulder feeling the anger that was slowly turning into a close form of killing intent. In fact he could feel some killing intent rolling off the boy directed at the girls. Sighing he looked back at the restaurant owner who was staring at Izur and the girls who had finally shut up.

Izur snorted fighting down his anger and glaring at the girls before looking at the restaurant owner and bowing slightly. "I apologize." He was now, however subject to the scrutiny of every person in the restaurant and though he hadn't noticed it, Masaru certainly had, three Jounin level shinobi had appeared outside and were looking in on them.

"If this is all then?" Masaru spoke looking at the restaurant owner; the man nodded and started to move off, but was stopped by that stupidly arrogant voice again. "It certainly is not all." Izur growled again feeling that same anger return, but intensified as he glared at the Uchiha.

"Drop it." Izur's voice was no longer cool and collected but showed the signs of his anger. "I will if you agree to fight me." Izur suddenly grinned; he could hear Kat's low growling as a kind of background hum. "When and where Uchiha?"

The other boy looked eager suddenly too, but Masaru's eyes had sharpened as he looked at the two. He also looked up as the three shinobi outside entered to stop to eventual fight. "At four, the Academy Training grounds. I'm sure you know where they are." Izur frowned, how could this kid know that? He was about to speak when Masaru did so for him.

"He can't, he has a previous engagement planned at that time." Izur frowned, it was right he remembered, he did and there was no way Masaru would let him go long enough to fight this kid. Sasuke scoffed at that, "Fine at three." Izur grinned glancing at Masaru to receive a slight nod before looking forwards again.

"Fine, don't be late Uchiha or you'll forfeit." That was however when the girls decided to break their silence. "Oooh Sasuke you'll beat him no problem at all. He's just an ant." Izur twitched at being dismissed so easily. "Yeah, you won't have any problems at all oh and we can cheer you on."

One of them finally decided to round on him, "And you, who are you disrespecting our Sasuke-Kun like that. He'll kick your ass all the way back to your pathetic village and…" Izur cut her off as he felt anger envelop him again and he moved, faster then Masaru had expected him to.

The kunai in his pocket out and placed against the pink haired girl's throat and an odd look in his eyes. "Insult my village again. Go on do it and see what happens." The three ninja had moved when Izur hand and he noticed them now standing around him, now weapons drawn but ready to move. He snorted and looked up at the slightly taller girl.

"The same warning goes to you, as it did to the Uchiha there. Insult my village again and you will duel me, based on my villages rules." The girl paled, that was good it appeared that unlike the Uchiha she knew what that meant. He pulled the kunai away and took a step back looking at the Konoha shinobi about him and the restaurant guests.

He bowed, much lower this time and spoke. "I apologize, again for my outburst." He could see the Jounin level shinobi had sweat dropped at what he'd said, but it was common for things like this to happen in his village. And you were required to apologize for it or face the wrath of the Raikage. Izur turned picking up his food and tossing some to Katzinsky while walking out.

Masaru watched him carefully; it was definitely starting to affect the boy that was for sure. This would have to be passed up to the Raikage as soon as they got back. Until then he'd just have to deal with him.

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Izur had wandered around after the restaurant confrontation and he'd met Naruto again. The boy had showed off his ability to Henge into anyone he wanted and Izur had been relatively surprised to note the weights he wore on himself now and his slight change in clothes. He'd adopted a pair of black pants, with orange lining around the pockets and going down the side. His shoes had been changed to black as well, and he'd worn a red and orange tight shirt and gotten rid of those ridiculous goggles he'd worn.

Izur had complimented the boy and mentioned his soon to be duel with the Uchiha in hopes that Naruto knew something about the boy's abilities. All he'd learned was that Naruto hated him and his 'Fan girls' and that he was the first in their class. Izur took that to mean the boy more then likely had the basics down and maybe one or two things that they wouldn't teach.

He'd have to assume the boy was at a Kumogakure Genin's level until he knew better. He doubted that putting that standard on the boy would underestimate him; it would more likely overestimate his abilities. After that he'd helped Naruto with some of the other basics before the two had headed off, together, towards the Academy.

Once there they had been met by the surprising sight of a lot of girls and a few males who just wanted to see the Uchiha get his ass kicked. Izur felt uneasy as there were many hidden chakra signatures around, he figured it was probably Konoha's shinobi making sure no one died. Which would probably be a good thing, but still he wondered if they would interfere and help the Uchiha.

Izur though didn't get much time to consider this any further as he felt a sudden hard hit on his head that sent him into a crouch. "Damn it Izur, we can't leave you alone for ten seconds or you go picking a fight with someone." Frowning Izur looked up at his two teammates returning to his original stance.

Katzinsky gave his version of a laugh at the boy before watching the crowd again. "So why are you two here?" Hachiro decided it was time for logic to answer, rather then emotion. "Masaru-Sensei told us to make sure you didn't kill the Uchiha and that you were on time. But I don't…" Izur cut him off before he could finish it with a nod, to indicate he already knew.

No point it allowing them to know for sure that they knew Konoha shinobi were around and watching. Izur moved off checking them time and seeing that it was two minuets to three. He watched as Katzinsky moved around counting the hidden scents for him, but as the wolf barked his answer and headed towards him Izur looked up at the squeals and annoying shrieks of girls.

He turned and looked at Naruto as he spoke, "Do they always do that Uzumaki-San?" It was more a calculated form of pissing them all off, but it was also to acknowledge that he thought Naruto was better then the Uchiha. The boy just nodded looking confused. Izur turned back to face the Uchiha as he entered the small area that the crowd had left them.

"Ready Uchiha?" The boy nodded but didn't move, so Izur turned and looked at Katzinsky, "Kat, get one of those hidden shinobi out here to be a referee." The wolf just nodded bounding over towards the tree Izur had relaxed in the other day. The Uchiha started to speak and say 'what hidden shinobi' but was cut off as the one near the tree melded out of it glowering at Izur.

"Fine I'll ref for you." He said walking towards them and talking, "Rules are no killing, no maiming, and no serious injury. I reserve the right to stop the fight at any time for any reason." He continued on look at Izur pointedly, the boy just shrugged. "Since your just a genin and he's just an academy student I don't see the point in limiting you to only certain things. I doubt you know much anyways."

The mans confidence was appalling, but Izur wasn't about to contradict him. Unfortunately Naruto was and the boy scoffed saying something that Izur tuned our. "Anyways, go ahead and start." Izur nodded putting his hands into his pockets and withdrawing a kunai. He used it to deflect the eight shuriken that had been thrown at him.

Then he was blocking the flurry of kicks and punches that the Uchiha was sending at him. He really hoped that Leiko and Hachiro were watching carefully because this was the best time to get some idea of their opponent's abilities. Izur did a back bend using his kunai to slash the Uchiha's leg.

Izur could still feel how tired he was from all the training today, but figured if he could keep up what he was doing now for a few more minuets then the Uchiha wasn't strong at all. He could also see the sudden concern in the Konoha Shinobi's eyes as he watched the blood coat the other boy's pants. "It's not deep, just a knick and I purposely missed the vein."

Izur spoke in a bored tone, that angered the Uchiha and Izur grinned watching as the boy came at him again and Izur went back to dodging. He could hear the girls squealing about how strong and fast Sasuke was and how Izur couldn't find any time to attack back and how tired he was getting. Well the last part was right, he was getting tired, but at least he had a damned good reason.

Izur jumped back landing in a sitting position and yawning. "You've got to be better then this. If not then this was just a waste of my time." Izur was about to stand back up when the Uchiha suddenly rushed forwards, Izur barely managed tog et his arms up to block the kick to his face. He rolled once using his arms to do a back flip and then dug the kunai into the ground slowing his speed.

So the kid had been holding back, he wouldn't be any more, which was for sure. Izur went back to dodging getting a feel for the Uchiha's speed. He was as fast as Izur had been before the weights. Which meant he could probably almost rival Hachiro at the moment, this would mean that by the Chuunin exams he could be something to recon with.

Izur leapt backwards and yawned again, the shinobi they were using as a referee sighed and spoke. "Boy, stop toying with him and end it." Izur grinned looking at him, but the Uchiha only seemed to become angrier. Which meant his fan girls became angrier. Shrugging Izur dodged the kunai swipe to his head and brought an elbow up smashing it into his stomach.

Izur pulled at three kunai and threw them but the Uchiha dodged and came back at him. Izur was good at dodging but it seemed the Uchiha didn't do as badly either as he launched back into the fight. Izur ducked leg sweeping the older boy and then balancing all his weight into his arms smashed his feet into the Uchiha's face.

He did a twist in the air and landed heavily on his feet, it wasn't easy moving around right now. He could feel his muscles protesting with the simple maneuvers he was doing. That guy was right he should stop toying with the Uchiha. He'd already played with him for ten minuets. That was enough time to get a good idea of his skills and potential growth.

He looked at Leiko and Hachiro who nodded and Izur grinned. Yup, he could end this now and get some rest before dinner. He held up his arms and formed a couple of seals disappearing from view and landing to the right of the Uchiha. His arm snapped at only to be caught by Sasuke's. Izur spun quickly his knee connecting with the Uchiha's ear and sending him down.

But he took Izur with him and the growling boy hit arm receiving a punch to the stomach but a moment later the referee moved to the surprise of everyone but Izur and his teammates. He reappeared his arm on Izur's but a look of surprise on his face. For as the dust settled the scene showed Izur with a kunai to Sasuke's throat. Sasuke had one hand in his Kunai bag having been trying to grab one.

He'd been pinned so he couldn't get that arm out now, but the other one was pinned beneath Izur's knee. The Jounin level shinobi had his hand on Izur's arm, the one with the Kunai to the Uchiha's throat. The other arm was currently holding a Kunai to the Jounin's heart and he grinned. "Yield." Izur spoke a look of almost sadistic pleasure crossing his face.

The Jounin just nodded scowling while the Uchiha tried to wiggle away. Izur knew he wouldn't be able to move his arm closer to the Uchiha's neck; the Jounin was too strong for that. The only reason he'd gotten the Kunai there was because he'd surprised the man, that wouldn't happen again.

"He yields as well, you win kid. Good job." Izur nodded pulling the Kunai from the Jounin and moving to removed the one from the Uchiha's neck. He was allowed and as Izur stood and he moved towards his team a slight smirk playing across his face. "Ready?" Hachiro spoke, looking annoyed, but that was probably because he'd toyed around for so long. "Yea."

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Masaru looked down at his team, wondering why in the world he had even bothered to accept becoming a Genin sensei in the first place. All the little brats did was cause a load of trouble and make his life hard. He sighed, again, glaring at them before speaking. "You showed too much Izur, but at least you were smart enough to hide _some_ of your abilities."

Izur winced at his teachers tone frowning as he thought back to the fight. He'd completely hidden his abilities with Nin and Genjutsu. Plus he had hidden the fact that he was wearing weights, but still he hadn't thought he'd shown off too much. Maybe Masaru was just mad about the thing with the Jounin. Then again even Izur knew that would be pushing the envelope.

He frowned for a moment before nodding, in agreement to what Masaru had said. "Gomen, Masaru-Sempai. I should have considered my actions more before I committed to them." The man nodded, refraining from rubbing it in even more. He was proud of the boy, but damn his tact was lacking sometimes.

"Good, you'll have to make up your punishment tonight after the dinner. One hundred laps around Konoha, Five hundred sit ups, and five hundred push ups." Izur nodded, he'd gone a deathly pale white at what his punishment would be.

"Anyways, we need to leave now. The Aburame's are expecting us soon. Know this though, they talk little and never while eating so don't attempt to make conversation once food had been placed on the table. Also don't flinch if their Bugs approach you, treat it like any normal occurrence."

The genin nodded and followed their teacher towards the Aburame's compound wondering what this dinner would be like. They had already realized that the first two dinners would be the more serious ones, and then they would be more relaxing. Izur frowned as they walked remembering what the Inuzuka's had said about having that battle.

From what he'd read up on the clans they would be dining with, he expected the Aburame's to offer a spar with their heir or someone who was a genin. Izur's mind flashed through everything he knew about the bug using clan. It wasn't much as they were incredibly secretive. But he did know that they would be a mixture of both long range and close range attacks.

Though they could become deadly to someone who couldn't use one or the other. They didn't train their people to be incredibly good at Taijutsu but their bugs could defend from a close ranged opponent and a long ranged opponent. Plus water, lightning, and earth jutsus wouldn't be very effective against them.

He looked at Leiko and nodded, the Inuzuka's wanted him to fight their competitor that meant that Leiko would be the best suited to fighting the Aburame's. At least he hoped he was right, she was the one who had taught him the fire jutsu after all.

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The team had been welcomed into the Aburame compound warily; the young man who had come to lead them to the main house had been tense the entire time. He'd looked to be some where around twenty to twenty four, maybe a bit younger or older. It was hard to tell with his face and body hidden away so well.

He was wearing a Hitae-Ate though and looked unwontedly serious even after they'd entered the main house. The clan head, Shibi, had yet to greet them yet, but Izur had chalked this up to saving his presence for last. That or he was insulting them, either way it didn't really matter in the end to the Genin. He didn't care about this dinner other then maybe at getting to see some other potential chuunins abilities and gauge Kumo's ability against Konoha's.

Izur was too busy taking in his surroundings to notice the approach of the three, but when he heard a voice clearing he moved his head towards the noise. Trying to make it look calm and collected but knowing that he'd moved too fast for that. Masaru was the first to speak and he sounded, at least, mildly respectful. "Aburame-Sama it is a pleasure to meet you again."

The genin nodded in agreement while sizing up the situation. Izur figured that the tall man would be at Masaru's level or maybe a little under it. The woman, he was unsure of her abilities as she didn't seem to be a shinobi. And the boy, well he looked like he was around Leiko and Hachiro's age but he wore no forehead protector anywhere on his body.

Which meant he was more then likely an academy student that, however, didn't tell the young shinobi anything about his abilities. "A pleasure as well Zetsumei-San. I was not formerly introduced to your students the last time we met." Izur looked at the man; his name was Shibi or something similar. Izur narrowed his eyes slightly when Masaru motioned for him to speak first.

Izur gave a slight bow to the Aburame's before speaking, "I am Himiloh Izur and this is my companion Katzinsky." He left out any special titles it would be simpler this way, and maybe even give him a bit of surprise when he fought one of them. Izur motioned for Leiko to speak next and she mirrored his actions.

"I'm called Fukazawa Leiko." Another nod to acknowledge her bow and name before all eyes turned to the tall red head. He bowed but a small smile was flitting across his face. "I am Hachiro of the Oonishi clan." Izur frowned but didn't look at Hachiro; he'd just had to change up the wording didn't he? Shibi just nodded before looking at Masaru again.

"This is my son Shino and my wife Yura. If you will follow me, I shall take you to our training area. I believe that the Inuzuka's have the right idea in wanting to see how strong Kumogakure is. Afterwards, we shall retire to the dining room to eat."

The team nodded following the Aburame's through their semi-large house until they had reached the door to the backyard. Once they were there they were lead for several minutes, in silence, through a small twisting path till they had come to a clearing large enough for two people to spar and several others to watch.

At the moment there were several Aburame's in the clearing as well, many wore headbands but several did not. They were here to see the Kumogakure shinobi's fight, and Izur was trying to figure who would fight whom. He already knew that Leiko would be the best choice, but if they picked a Chuunin or Jounin level shinobi he didn't think she stood a chance.

Not with their abilities that was. "Zetsumei-San if you would pick some one as a contender I can choose an appropriate match for them so that we may watch and observe." Masaru nodded looking at Izur, and it wasn't lost on the Kumo Nin's at how many tensed.

But before Masaru could speak, Shibi interrupted him. "So you will choose the Himiloh boy, even though he has already fought the Uchiha today?" He made it sound like they were being disrespected but before Masaru could answer Izur did. "He is not asking me to fight, Aburame-Sama."

The man raised an eyebrow behind his glasses and motioned for Izur to continue one. "I am the leader of my fellows, Masaru-Sempai is merely our instructor to make sure we become successful shinobi and not kill our clients." He heard a slight chuckle come from some of the younger Aburame's.

"So as the leader, it is my job to choose which of my people should fight." Izur turned his head looking at Leiko and she grinned, knowing what it meant. "As such, I choose Leiko." His facial expression had never changed but he could see that Masaru had a slightly smug expression on his face. Shibi just nodded as the Kumo contender was name.

"Then I apologize to you Zetsumei-San for my outburst." Masaru just nodded, not bothering to wipe the smug expression off his face. Shibi turned his attention to Leiko who had walked towards the center of the arena. "Fine, then since you are only a newly made Genin I can not have you face up against one of my long term Genin's, or the Chuunins as it would be unfair."

Leiko just looked at him boredly, but Izur's look showed that he agreed. "So I will match you up against my son who is Genin level himself. Shino?" The boy moved from his father's side heading towards the middle of the area as well. Izur couldn't help but smirk at this development, an Academy Student at the Genin level was no match for Leiko who was already at the Average level for Genins in his country.

Or so he thought. Shibi looked between the competitors watching as Leiko took her taijutsu stance and his son stood watching her impassionedly. "Hajime." Where Aburame's were contented to wait for their opponent to move first, Leiko was not. And the moment the word started to come from Shibi's mouth the girl was in motion.

Her leg came out connecting with the side of Shino's head who had not quite, been ready for that display of speed. Then she launched into the rest of her attacks only to find a multitude of bugs stopping several of her attacks. She slid on the ground avoiding a large swarm that had tried to swipe at her head, and went for a leg sweep of her own. But the bugs reacted to her aggression by blocking her kick.

She wondered briefly how many bugs he had, if she killed as many as she thought with each hit to that whip of them the other boy could be in trouble. Frowning she jumped making a few seals until three clones of her appeared on each side. The seven Leiko's assaulted the Aburame together coordinating their attacks. But when one of the clones was suddenly covered in bugs and burst into electricity killing several of the ones that had engulfed it a gasp of surprise went from the watching crowd.

Except from her teammates who had already figured she would have preferred the Rai Bunshin to Mizu for the area effect it would give her. Izur grinned; this was undoubtedly a valuable attack to use against Aburame's. Whose bugs most defiantly were not infinite.

Leiko grinned crouching down into her taijutsu stance, "What's the matter, can't expect a simple lightning attack from a Kumo shinobi?" Her grin turned into a sneer as the other boy remained on the ground, it appeared that she'd beaten him easily. She shook her head scoffing and heading back towards her teammates.

"If that's all you can offer, I look forwards to waltzing through the Chuunin Exams." Izur watched her with a blank face, and Masaru looked relatively disappointed. Hachiro was the only who had even a tad bit of emotion showing. When she looked at her teammates she expected congratulations.

The blank stares from two, and the worried look on one had her whip around suddenly, only to see a missing body. She frowned and started top reach for a kunai and drop into a defensive stance, until two hard feet smashed into her face. She tottered backwards taking the full weight and momentum of her opponent.

By that time both hands had gotten around the kunai's in her pouches and drew them. But it was to no avail as the Aburame heir moved away from her watching with cold, calculating eyes. "When did you… switch out?"

Her voice came out nasally and congested, more then likely he had managed to break her nose. Judging by the blood flow and the sound she made when she talked. The Aburame seemed surprised that she had not cried, grabbed her nose in pain, or become unrealistically angry.

That was, after all, what the female Academy Students her age would have done. "I didn't. Leiko… it means arrogance and it was given correctly." Leiko didn't even acknowledge that. It irritated her that she really could be what she despised most. "You should forfeit, else you'll pass out from blood loss."

Shino's obvious smugness wasn't helping the female genin and she snorted. "Fuck that." She turned looking at her allies before speaking. "Izur snap my nose back into place." The youngest shinobi sighed in irritation before looking at Masaru and receiving a nod. But still he didn't move he looked at Shibi and bowed to him slightly.

"Would my… fixing Leiko-San's nose be a problem Aburame-Sama?" The man just raised an eyebrow making a small motion with his hand to proceed. The boy sighed in irritation again as he approached his teammate. He extended one hand grabbing her nose painfully and jerking. A small pop and then crack could be heard as the nose was thrown back into place. And the girls wince was obvious.

"Don't get arrogant, you'll disgrace us." Izur turned with his parting words and shook his hand to rid it of his teammate's blood. Leiko frowned at his back before turning to Shino and grinning again. "All right, I won't fool around anymore." She took a step forwards hands raised and formed the ram seal.

A moment later she'd disappeared landing next to Shino her arm extended as it connected to the side of the boy's head. She turned pivoting gracefully on one foot before using the Shunshin again to land on the same side. This time her leg was extended and he went farther. She pivoted gracefully again, but before she could lower her leg and continue her attack Shino had moved.

Catching her in a vulnerable position she took his hit, allowing it to knock her into the air. She spun and her hands flashed through familiar signs until she drew back her head. "Katon: Endan." The small, yet still dangerous fire ball flashed towards the surprised bug user and just before it was about to connect, two equally small water balls smashed into it.

Shibi could be seen standing next to his son his bugs having moved to protect him and he looked at the two male Genin in surprise. Both still had their hands in the last seal of the Teppoudama. The younger of the two was bored looking, but the elder looked angry as he started into Leiko. "You _said_ you wouldn't use any of those."

Leiko looked like she was about to argue when Izur held up his hand in a motion signaling for silence. He looked at Shibi and the two elder genin blushed remembering their audience. Leiko bowed to the Aburame leader before speaking. "Gomen Nasai, Aburame-Sama. I foolishly lost myself in the spar." The man just nodded watching the three genin and their, angry instructor.

"It was a good battle, even if it was taken too far. I believe now would be a good time to move inside. Our appetizers will be Gyoza, Rice Bowl, and Miso Soup. We can move to the main dish as soon as you, our guests are ready."

Nods were the mans only answer as they followed him inside to sample the three different appetizers that had been laid out for them. Izur silently hopes that they wouldn't have any sushi. He could eat it if need be, but he absolutely detested the taste of fish or any water based animals. It was hard not to gag when he was eating it.

After that silent prayer he prayed that the dinner wouldn't get any worse.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o00o0o0o0o0o

**Techniques Used:  
**

**Katon: ****Goukakyuu: **Fire Technique: Great Fireball Technique. The user blows a relatively large stream of fire at the opponent, the more chakra the larger the technique.

**Raiton: Rai Bunshin: **Lightning Technique: Lightning Clone. The user bends their lightning elemental chakra to their control and creates a fighting clone that can attack using the user's jutsus and abilities. It has only ¼ of the user's abilities but upon impact explodes expanding and electrical field to shock anything near it.

**Doton: Doro Gaeshi: **Earth Technique: Mud Overturn. A defensive technique that the chakra fuels their hands with chakra and then upon slamming them into the ground creates a wall to protect themselves. More chakra means a larger and thicker wall.

**Katon: Housenka: **Fire Technique: Mythical Phoenix Fire. The user spits out small balls of flame, the user can hide things within them as well.

**Suiton: Mizu Bunshin: **Water Technique: Water Clone. A clone that had only ¼ of the users abilities but can attack and destroy other opponents, it can not get a certain distance away from the user or it will dispel itself.

**Raiton: ****Raikyuu: **Lightning Technique: Lightning Ball. Using two types of weapons the user can channel electricity into it, to make a ball of lightning that can travel in one direction and shock an opponent.

**Katon: Endan: **Fire Technique: Fireball. A small jet of fire that the longer it gets the rounder it gets. Most of the time it is just small, and a strait flame.

**Ninken: Shunshin: **Ninja Technique: Body Flicker. The ability to use ones chakra to move from one destination to another in a short period of time.

**Suiton: ****Teppoudama: **Water Technique: Bullet. The user spits out a small or large ball of water towards a direction and soaks it in the water of the Bullet. The Bullet is shaped however the user wants it to be, generally just a round ball.

**Next Chapter: **Of Paleness and Fatness

**Info: **The team continues their training schedule and now they must dine with more clans of Konoha, but after Leiko's fight with Shino how will the other clans take to them?


	22. Mission Arc: Don't do Drugs!

Shattered Dreams

_**Shattered Dreams**_

**Disclaimer: **I do not Own Naruto; then again you all know this….

**Author's Notes: **Fweh! I hate work! Anyways the latest installment in Shattered Dreams and a great big apology for making you all wait so long. Just three more nights left in Konoha and then the team moves on. So I figure one or two more chapters to get through the rest of the Konoha part.

**Chapter 22: Of Paleness and Fatness**

Izur groaned as he glared at his teacher. Yesterday's dinner had sucked so much fish. After the appetizer they had been served by the Aburame's the main course had consisted of Onigiri, Tsukemono, Domburi, & Sushi. Izur had been fighting not to gag all fricken night, but as soon as they'd gotten ten feet away from that horrid place he'd thrown up all over the place.

He absolutely hated anything fishy. Though the dagakuimo, that had been made for dessert certainly hadn't been all that bad. Still, there'd been way too much fish and he'd been way too polite to show the Aburame's the error of their ways. Plus on top of all that they'd managed to anger the Aburame's with their ignorance of their customs.

Masaru was _not_ happy with them and he'd expressed his anger at them all night. All three genin had been forced to go one on one against him. Only to be beaten to a pulp. When they hadn't been fighting him, they'd been running around the forest doing all types of exercises. To a point, they simply hadn't stopped moving all night. Now here they were at six o'clock in the morning and Masaru was staring at them blankly.

Izur looked and felt like hell but he wasn't going to say anything. He needed sleep; he could feel it in his body. The sluggish reactions, the lack of attentiveness. Plus it ached. He could feel a dull throb through out his entire body, and harsh ones else where. Not only that but he was pretty sure that all of his bruises had developed their own as well. He hadn't known it was possible, but he was convinced.

His teammates were not faring much better either. "Izur it's time for you to complete your punishment, Leiko your punishment for taking the fight against the Aburame are the same and Hachiro you will receive the same punishment for your mishap at dinner." The three genin winced at that, Hachiro had accidentally knocked a plate of food onto one of the Aburame's coating the man in fish.

The man had already smelled but with that attached to him to it had been nearly unbearable. And none of the Aburame's had found it remotely entertaining. "Now get going." Nodding the team took off at a fast pace. A hundred laps around Konoha wasn't an easy thing without weights. With them it was made incredibly hard. With them and an entire night of harsh training, it felt impossible.

Izur and Kat looked, annoyed, at having to run around the village a hundred times again but they would complete their punishment. Hopefully as fast as possible, and then maybe Masaru would allow them to go to sleep sometime soon. That really was all they wanted to do right now, just go to sleep _somewhere_.

It didn't matter where at the moment just that they could. Once the team had finally managed to complete their punishment it was seven and Masaru was staring at them boredly. "Follow me, and don't slow down." There was no response as the Jounin set off; none had the necessary air to make one.

It took ten minuets of running to make it to Masaru's destination and the sound of a waterfall had been easily heard for the last three minuets of travel. The team set down behind their teacher staring at the fifty foot tall waterfall in awe. Masaru had to shout to be heard over the thing.

"You will train until ten O'clock again today. Once you're done at ten you may do as you wish. Just be prepared to meet me at four to leave for the Hyuuga compound. Your training objective today is to walk to the top of the waterfall and back down. You _will_ master this technique by the time we leave Konoha."

With that the man disappeared in a swirling of smoke. Izur scowled at the waterfall, they were already so tired that this would make it all the harder. And he could already see the problem with this chakra control exercise. The water was constantly changing so the user had to constantly change their chakra in order to walk up it.

Adjusting at a moments notice, it seemed like one of the most difficult chakra control exercises the boy had heard of yet. He prayed their were no harder ones then this, the only thing that seemed harder then that was walking on air. But that couldn't be possible, their was nothing to stick your chakra to.

Izur shook that thought from his head looking down at the wolf standing by his side. "Kat you should train and improve yourself while we do this." The young animal just nodded, looking bleakly at the thought of doing anything. He'd really hoped he could just sleep while the boy and his teammates had worked on their problems.

Izur ignored the others, this was not a team exercise, and therefore they would work alone unless they had questions the others might be able to answer. Izur took a running start getting all of two steps up before his chakra couldn't adjust fast enough. He was sent falling and then tumbling under the water until he could swim away from it.

Scowling the boy went at it again getting a half step of improvement. It went on like that for an hour before his patience wore out and he threw off the armor he wore. It was annoying when it was wet as it was and he didn't need it to walk up a waterfall. Plus, he reasoned, if he could go up the waterfall first without his clothes and weights then it would only be slightly harder to do it with them.

At least this way he might make better progress then just a step every other try.

Two hours later Masaru appeared to see his two male Genins wearing nothing but their boxers and running up the waterfall. His female genin wasn't much better, apparently she wore a weird shirt underneath her clothes and now she was dressed in that and her pants. He frowned, but when he watched them go up the waterfall again he was surprised.

They got about thirty two feet up the waterfall, respectively. It was a give or take type of thing though and it was possible that they were much closer to forty, or much farther away. He shrugged motioning for the wolf that had approached him to alert the genin to his presence. The loud snarl like bark had all three soaking Genin jumping out of the water and standing at a strict attention.

He was surprised, well that was an understatement, but it was the best word that could come to mind at the moment. He'd never seen his team without the majority of their clothes on, and it surprised him at how physically fit they looked. And the scars, most genin their age hadn't developed too many scars.

Hachiro had the long lean body of a ninjutsu/Genjutsu specialist. But the muscles forming on his teenage body were still obvious and more pronounced then most. The boy was only mildly tanned, looking rather pale in the sunlight. Almost like he did not belong there but instead under the shades instructing them on how to do the job not doing it.

Leiko had a stockier looking body with a more evenly distributed muscle mass that obviously out did her male counterpart. But it was still rather lean looking; it still appeared that she preferred to use jutsus more. She had a slightly darker looking skin then Hachiro, but it still looked more like she shouldn't be working instead telling others what to do and sitting back and watching.

Izur looked incredibly stocky. Without his outfit on he appeared shorter, the rippling muscles looking mildly ridiculous on his eleven year old body. The kid _looked_ like a taijutsu expert, like that was all he did and couldn't do many ninjutsu or Genjutsus. Masaru knew that wasn't true but the dark tan that ran along the boys body made him look a natural in the sun, almost like he was some ranch hand or something.

Plus he held the record for scars, over his teammates. The small white slashes evident to his hard work. Masaru shook the surprise from his head and started to speak, "All right you are free to do as you wish, just don't forget to meet for the Hyuuga's dinner at four."

The team nodded moving off to dress and head back to Konoha, apparently they didn't want to stay out here much longer.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Izur was rushing through the woods throwing his clothes back on as he went, he couldn't believe he'd lost track of time so easily. He could feel the creak in his bones from the hard night and day of work but tried to ignore it.

After Masaru had released them from training Izur had gone back to the hotel and slept until two, after waking he'd eaten more then his share of food and rushed back to the waterfall to train until three thirty. Only problem it was now three fifty and he needed to get back a minute ago. Masaru was going to be so pissed at him for this, being late was a bad mistake.

It took three more minutes before Izur landed in front of the hotel to see an extremely pissed off Masaru and two irate team mates. "You're late." Izur almost snickered at the obvious statement; yes he was late who didn't know it? "Hai Masaru-Sempai. I lost track of time while training." The man just growled before speaking again, "Not acceptable. You're punishment is Two hundred and fifty laps around Konoha, Seven Hundred and Fifty sit ups, Three hundred and seventy five push ups, and three hundred and seventy five one arm pull ups with each arm."

Izur almost, _almost_, passed out from the punishment. It had never been upped so much after only one day of training, and Izur wanted to know _why_ it had suddenly happened. But his thoughts were interrupted by the man who pointed to the hotel room. "Go shower, you have five minuets, and Izur you had damned well better not wear that outfit. It's too torn up."

Izur nodded disappearing into the hotel as quickly as possible; he'd have to fix all the holes in his uniform tomorrow, but what to wear. His other outfit was dented pretty badly as well and he frowned. Well he could wear that, hopefully Masaru didn't get too angry.

Four minuets and forty seven seconds later Izur was standing back outside still slightly wet from his shower. He was wearing his least ripped pair of pants; there were still minor slashes here and there. He had on a fishnet shirt that was in a kind of tank top format and under it he wore a blue and gray tank top, his Hitae-ate tied about his forehead.

The tank top was from his sleep wear, but he always wore the fish net shirt under his regular clothing, it didn't seem right have anything on under it so he'd thrown on the sleep wear shirt. "Better, now lets go."

The genin nodded following their sempai, unaware of the looks they were receiving from people, or more importantly one slightly too buff eleven year old. As they walked Masaru explained about some of the Hyuuga's fighting abilities, when Leiko asked about their dinner habits Masaru just shrugged saying they were very formal.

Izur had given the team the necessary information on the Hyuuga's dinner customs, and when asked how he knew he pulled a scroll from his pocket and summoned a book. Masaru had been surprised as he looked at it, but Izur ignored this putting the book back in the scroll and summon as Weapons book. He was only half way through it, but tonight would be a good time to read some more.

At four ten they stood in front of the Hyuuga compound, all of the receiving weird looks as they were led in by four Hyuuga's who looked, smelt, and felt dangerous. Apparently nothing was going to be taken for granted here. They were led quickly and quietly to a training ground where a good thirty people stood.

The team moved from the circle and towards the center, where the Hyuuga's leader Hiashi stood. Masaru bowed slightly before speaking. "A pleasure to be here Lord Hyuuga, my students and I thank you for your hospitality." The man nodded watching them for any bit of deception before responding.

His tone was cold and Izur felt his face slowly slipping into a mask of no expression. This man was _hostile_ to them, and Izur couldn't figure out why, He'd already noted the two girls that stood on either side of the man. The taller one looked to be Leiko and Hachiro's age, while the shorter one was probably two or three years younger then Izur.

"It is my pleasure to welcome you is village's shinobi to my _humble_ home to share food. These are my daughters, and heirs Lady Hinata, and Lady Hanabi. Izur frowned, a clan was only supposed to have one heir; maybe their true heir had not been picked yet. Masaru bowed to them and as he did so he motioned for Izur to speak.

Bowing first the young boy brought the Hyuuga's attention onto himself as he spoke. He made sure that he spoke with a loud enough voice that all present could hear but a soft enough one so as not to seem rude. "A pleasure to meet both of you Hinata-Hime, Hanabi-Hime." It was bile in his mouth to address anyone as such, being from the proud clan that he was.

"My team and I have heard much of the Hyuuga's prowess and graciousness. I am Himiloh Izur." He used his left hand to indicate Leiko and his right to indicate Hachiro. "These are my teammates Fukazawa Leiko and Oonishi Hachiro." The boy fell silent once he'd introduced his tall red haired friend.

He felt, unnerved to have those odd pale eyes staring straight into his but he refused to blink or appear weak. The man just nodded slightly before responding. "A pleasure young Himiloh, your team appears strong." Izur nodded choosing for the moment not to reply to that.

Hiashi, seeing that the young Genin would not rise to his bait turned his attention back to Masaru before speaking. "We would, of course, like to enjoy a spar between your team and some of my clan's people. We have heard of their abilities."

Izur frowned minutely, he knew he wanted Hachiro for this fight but something was itching at the back of his mind telling him that wouldn't be. "Of course, we would be honored to entertain a friendly spar." Masaru spoke, using the singular version of the word and Hiashi grinned.

"Ah, but Zetsumei-San I would like to see all of your genin in action. I think I have the perfect opponent picked out." Izur cursed his rotten luck and almost, almost, glared at the man but he reigned in his anger. Masaru allowed a small bit of his to leak past looking down at the shorter man.

Where Masaru was a good six three, Hiashi was lucky if he topped five ten. "That is acceptable, but the boy will choose who will match up against who when you produce your contenders." Izur frowned, this was bad and he knew it. He already disliked being here, and it was only getting worse.

"Fair enough. Neji, step forwards." Izur turned his head watching as a boy that looked to be maybe a couple months to two years older then Hachiro stepped forwards. Izur was sure it was only a couple months, he didn't carry himself like a Chuunin and the boy was sure that a Hyuuga like this would make chuunin quickly. His forehead protector glinted off his forehead as he faced the genin.

"Hanabi, Hinata, join him." The two girls nodded and Izur turned slightly away from the man, able to see him from the corners of his eyes but making it obvious he was not speaking to him. Before he could speak though Hachiro had already done so, "Izur let me have the male."

His eyebrows rose at his teammate's request, normally Hachiro could have cared less who he fought. "Why?" Sighing Hachiro fidgeted slightly before responding, "Because he looked like he could be a good rival and the other two don't. I've… wanted to fight a Hyuuga since I heard about the incident eight years ago."

Frowning the boy nodded, digging through the files in his mind to find out what had happened eight years ago. The sudden widening of his eyes showed that he remembered and a soft expletive came from his mouth. He should have realized sooner. "He is your's then Hachiro, Leiko which would you like then."

The girl grinned turning and looking straight at Hinata, "I'll take the older girl, this way were all pretty much fighting people our age." Scowling the boy nodded, he doubted that the Hanabi girl would be anything near a challenge but it shouldn't matter. He wasn't supposed to be here for a challenge, it wouldn't help anyways once they fit the pieces together.

"Fine. Hachiro will fight Neji-san, Leiko will fight Hinata-Hime, and I will fight Hanabi-Hime." Hiashi's smile seemed to waver slightly at the words but he quickly banished it. "Fine, then we should have the fights with Fukazawa first, then yourself Himiloh, and finally Oonishi's."

Izur just frowned and nodded his own agreement moving away from the center of the circle only to leave Leiko in it again. She was grinning at the obviously timid girl, stretching her arms and hands. She was a Hyuuga so she couldn't be underestimated, but she didn't look very strong at all.

A man with an odd seal on his forehead stepped forwards and Izur looked at it for a few moments before realizing what it was. "Hajime." Leiko dashed forwards towards the surprised heiress only to have to duck and avoid a hit to the head. That would have proven very dangerous for the Kunoichi and as she ducked avoiding more hits from the girls Jyuuken moves Izur couldn't help but grin.

Leiko was too brash to continue dodging forever unless she absolutely needed to and it was obvious, to the Kumo shinobi's at least, that she was only messing around. Izur winced when the sudden sound of a hard object hitting flesh was heard. He watched as the Hinata girl was knocked back a few feet from Leiko's hit only to watch as Leiko boxed her backwards then using Shunshin boxed her back to the center.

Growling Izur clenched, and unclenched his hands as Leiko toyed with the Hyuuga Heiress not even caring that the Hyuuga's around her were becoming more and more agitated. "Leiko end it, this is a farce of a match." The girl frowned looking at him before nodding. A moment later she'd taken a hit to the upper arm only to wrap it around Hinata's neck and pivot backwards throwing her headfirst to the ground.

Once there Leiko tapped a kunai against her throat drawing a little blood. "Dead." Izur frowned as he saw the look of anger on the referees face, and what seemed like a spark of anger in Hiashi's eyes. Izur, looking to prevented any unnecessary trouble walked forwards pulling Leiko's arm away from the stunned girl.

"That was unnecessary, Leiko-san." She nodded, understanding what he was doing as she looked around. She hadn't shown anything new in this fight, it had just been too much of a farce for her to not ignore. She turned walking back to Masaru while Izur grabbed the Hinata girls shoulder and hefted her up to her feet.

She looked unsteady but the boy held her up with one hand and looked at the ref silently. "Well are you going to help her or not?" The man nodded and moved forwards to help the heiress who still looked wobbly on her feet, Izur watched them go. Feeling bad about what had happened so long ago, it was the only reason he had helped the girl. Another man with a seal on his forehead stepped forwards as Hanabi approached watching him warily.

In fact now that Izur thought about it, all the Hyuuga's were watching him just a tad too warily. Sighing the boy shrugged pulling his kunai holsters off his legs and throwing them towards Hachiro and Leiko. "I will not be using weapons." He didn't mean it to sound arrogant but it undoubtedly came across as that.

His point was that the girl had none on her, and therefore Izur shouldn't need one either. He was trying to make it even, though he didn't mention the kunai in each pocket. Those were just in case anything happened. He turned towards Hanabi bowing slightly, "I will not toy with you Hanabi-Hime."

One could take that as a sign of respect, it was what he wanted. To put the Hyuuga's on ease and as the man raised his arm dropping it Izur heard the word to start and he dashed forwards sliding when he was halfway to Hanabi and knocking her feet out from under her. As soon as his legs made contact he used his arms to pivot up and stop himself kicking the girl into the air.

He did a handstand push up and then flipped himself up into the air with his arms only. He did a slightly graceful flip and caught Hanabi around the neck only to gasp in pain as she landed two serious hits on his abdomen. He grunted spinning suddenly and throwing her down.

He lifted his leg as he came back to the earth, the whisper of 'Tsuuten Kyaku' could be heard but the girl had rolled out of the way just as his foot made contact with the ground. Shattering it causing a foot deep hole and a six inch wide one. He jumped back avoiding the next two blows and drew his arm back.

Another whispered word of 'Gouwan' was heard as he threw his fist forwards. Izur didn't have the chakra control to perform the attack as it's creator but he did have enough physical strength to get 1/10 of its power. And he used that connecting hard with the girl's face sending her off the ground and rolling. He dashed forwards raising his leg he brought it down stopping just before it would have crushed her throat.

He'd meant to stop but this time he did so for several reasons. The first, he'd controlled himself. The second three Hyuugas, the ref, the previous ref, and Hiashi had suddenly grabbed him and hit him. The ref's had landed normal solid blow to the stomach but Hiashi had purposely hit him in the neck.

The boys body spasmed slightly and his raised leg froze momentarily before dropping and resting on the girl's throat. His body crumbled under him and the boys eyes rolled as he hit the ground hard. He woke a few moments later to feel himself being dragged from where he'd been his eye sight blurry and everything below his waste not working properly.

He frowned as he tried to move his arms and legs and no response was given. Hiashi was checking up on his youngest daughter to make sure she was okay when the sudden fierce and intimidating growl that Izur gave to the man had him spinning around quickly. The boy looked, angry to say the least. The wolf that had chosen not to participate (simply because it would have been pointless) snarled at Hiashi with him.

"Fix it, _now._" The boy's voice had dropped several octaves as he glared at Hiashi, he didn't know what had been done to him but it would be fixed. That or he'd kill the man by using his Kekkei Genkei. Masaru stared down at the boy he'd been dragging in surprise, he could feel the killing intent rolling off the boy in waves.

"Fix what boy?" Masaru's answer was the boy growling even deeper, this was quickly becoming a bad day. "He's paralyzed me. And he'll fix it now or I'll kill him." Izur grinned suddenly pumping chakra around his head, and other places that didn't have the tenketsu blocked.

Hiashi raised an eyebrow before speaking, in his same cold and calm voice. "And how would you do that?" He seemed not to care, but as that killing intent sharpened he couldn't help but feel a slight amount of surprise. The boy was unexpected, not many his age had that much in them.

"Actually Lord Hyuuga, he could carry through with the threat. It would probably get him killed but if you've permanently paralyzed him I won't stop him." The Hyuuga leader looked at Masaru as though he might be insane.

"You're the Death Shadow and yet you think that a mere rookie genin could kill me? Have…" Masaru cut him off with a grin, "Yes I do, want to know why? He has full access to his blood line and after The Incident, you should know all about it." The Hyuuga winced looking rather angry at it being brought up but he stepped forwards, looking the angrier as he laid a single cold hand to the boy's neck.

"I do this only because the Hokage wants peace." Izur snarled at the man, until he felt the complete nothingness of his body start to disappear to numbness. He still couldn't use them but at least he knew they were there. "I believe we should continue Lord Hyuuga, Hachiro get over here."

The red head nodded moving forwards as Masaru dragged Izur back to his spot. Hachiro frowned at the other boy as he approached. He looked; bored if that was the right word. He definitely didn't seem interested in what was going on. Hachiro dropped down into his taijutsu stance waiting for the word to begin.

Neji seemed on the verge of falling asleep when the ref told them to begin. Neji had been ready for Hachiro to act as his comrades had and dash in rather the boy hung back in his stance waiting. The grin flickering across Hachiro's face was enough to complete the image that he was different. Neji watched him silently, taking in his form and looks. He didn't look like a Taijutsu specialist now that he thought about it.

He might still be proficient in it, but it seemed that he had a very different specialty then his two teammates. Neji could see his Uncle becoming irritated at their inactivity, but in truth he did not care. He had not wanted to do this to begin with, their were plenty of other Genin among the Hyuuga clan, he had not been needed for this task.

After four minuets of nothing the Hyuuga's had become even more impatient then the Kumo Nin's. They didn't rightly care; as they knew what Hachiro was doing would lead to his victory. They were however wholly unprepared for what the Hyuuga's did to… motivate Neji into action.

It had started with a couple of insults, only from those who were in their late thirties or older though everyone else was stoically quiet. After that one of the older men had leaned over and whispered to Hiashi, the mans jaw had hardened as he clenched his teeth and said something angrily back. But apparently the older man had pulled something to convince Hiashi to do whatever he wanted.

"Neji you will fight." The boy looked at his uncle blankly before turning back to Hachiro, when neither moved Izur saw that Hiashi had raised his arms, almost reluctantly. A moment later he was surprised when the Hyuuga boy went down on one knee clutching his head. A moment later though Hiashi released his seal and spoke in colder tones. "You _will_ fight."

Izur could feel his own anger at the man, and see Hachiro's as Neji forced himself to his feet. "No. I won't fight an injured opponent this is no longer a fair match, you have unwarrantedly injured my opponent and stacked too much in my favor." Izur raised his eyebrows slightly, not in surprise really just that Hachiro had voice it so quickly. Izur knew that the best way to continue the fight was to ask Neji if he wanted to, but he was sure that the boy would say yes.

If only to avoid whatever pain these assholes could cause on him. The best thing to do would be to request a different opponent. The Hyuuga's turned on them demanding that they order Hachiro to fight. Izur spoke, in a sarcastic tone, "Sorry I don't have a fancy seal to cause pain to my insubordinate underlings."

The way he said it only angered the Hyuuga's more but Hiashi held up a hand to calm them down. "Fine, we will provide a different opponent." The man turned to the old one who had told him what to do to Neji. "Councilor, I believe you're son is a Genin?" The man nodded slightly, pretty sure where this was leading.

"Yes, but he's been a Genin much longer then this boy he will decimate him." Izur held back the snort that threatened to come. The councilor made it sound like being a Genin for a long time was a good thing. "He's only been a genin for three years, he is fifteen rights?" The councilors jaw had tightened at that, he knew what Hiashi was trying to do and it only pissed him off.

"Yes." He ground it out like someone trying to eat a week old ham sandwich. Hiashi showed no satisfaction as he turned to Hachiro and spoke to him. "Will you fight the fifteen year old genin?" Hachiro nodded assent, this would probably show them a bit more of the Hyuuga's abilities then any fight with Neji would have.

He was sure that boy would have held back just so that no one here knew how strong he was. It was why he had been putting off attacking; it had been a stare down, a test of wills if you will to see which one wanted to win the most. Izur frowned though as he watched the five six fifteen year old genin walk towards Hachiro.

He was sneering, as though this little spar was beneath him. He looked much like any Hyuuga and he wore similar robes as his father, only they were more black then white. Apparently they were dealing with a very dark individual. "Daisuke, I hope to see you win this battle." The fifteen year old just nodded dropping into the Jyuuken stance.

Frowning Izur watched him, he was much too confident in his abilities. If Izur had been a Genin for three years and had only graduated at fifteen then he would have taken into question his ability as a shinobi. This boy didn't which meant he probably was no longer Genin level but was being held back for a different reason.

Izur hoped that Hachiro was picking up on this and as his teammate dropped into his stance again ready to start the battle of wills they were surprised. To say the least. This Hyuuga by passed the usual summing up of the opponent, as soon as Hachiro had settled he launched forwards arms in the Jyuuken position, ready to strike.

Izur glared, and growled again this was ridiculous. The ref hadn't even said to begin and yet here this idiot was attacking before it and not being punished. Izur was damned sure if he, Leiko, or Hachiro had done that they would have been forcibly restrained. Several of the Hyuuga's around Izur moved a little bit farther away.

He reminded them too much of some wild wolf, and with the one at his side it was only helping his image.

Hachiro had been surprised and caught off guard when his opponent had attacked. He'd barely avoided the first few hits by rolling out of the way. Now he was trying to keep some distance between them and needing to perform a Genjutsu. But this boy was anything but an average genin.

He wasn't as fast as Leiko, for that he was sure of but he was strong. In his Jyuuken ways, he was definitely strong. And Hachiro was pretty sure he had a grasp on why the young man attacking him was not a chuunin. He was too much of a bully. The malice that radiated off of him was ridiculous; there was no killing intent just a need, a want to hurt for no reason.

Hachiro ducked another blow to his head and sidestepped a blow to his heart, the other boy was fighting to kill or maim at least. Hachiro gracefully moved out of the way of the other boy's arms, but it wasn't easy and he could feel them getting closer and closer. A misstep caused Hachiro to catch a blow to his upper thigh and he flinched at the pain.

He could feel the complete loss of chakra and he dodged backwards opening as much room as he could. His hands went through several hand seals and a moment later the words 'Doryuu Taiga' echoed out and Hachiro's arms connected with the ground. A moment later and the other Hyuuga suddenly found himself waist deep in mud.

Hachiro rushed across the mud standing on top of it, his leg hitting the other boy in the side of the head, before wrapping his legs around the boy's neck and doing a back flip. It sucked the boy out of the mud and then slammed him back down into it face first. A moment later though he was back up out of the mud, literally covered in it and he'd connected two hits to Hachiro.

One on his arm and the other on his chest, getting dangerously close to his heart. Izur moved as Hachiro went to avoid another swipe, a moment later the three Kumo shinobi that hadn't been fighting had the Hyuuga wrapped in a very precarious position. Izur had come up in front a Kunai placed against the boys heart, Leiko had wrapped an arm around his neck the Kunai ready to slit his throat, and Masaru had caught the boys arm his Zanbatou resting lightly no the boys head.

It had cut several pieces of his hair leaving it looking odd but they were not moving an inch, more intent on restraining themselves from killing the little bastard then anything else. Hachiro was ignoring them and checking out his wounds. Hiashi stepped forwards and spoke his tone cold. "I think it time we moved to the dinner table."

The Kumo shinobi nodded. Leiko took her arm off his neck and slunk away looking irritated, Masaru put his weapon back on his back and Izur was staring at it wide eyed. He wondered if maybe he should get a Zanbatou as his person weapon, it looked decent. Shrugging the thought away Izur shoved the older boy, hard, sending him back pedaling in the mud.

He put his Kunai away glaring at the mud covered Hyuuga with hate filled eyes. Hachiro looked at his team and nodded, the three moved to follow Hiashi to the dinner table once there they saw the plates placed out. There was Miso Soup, Rice Bowl, and Agedashi Tofu, which caused an annoyed sigh from Izur. More fucking fish.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Izur was sitting at the top of the waterfall glaring down at his teammates. He was again only wearing his boxers but had finally managed to at least get up the damned thing without them on. Now he had to get up and down without messing up. Hachiro could already go up and about a quarter of the way down, Leiko was almost able to go all the way up as well.

The boy frowned remember the dinner they had, had last night. After that horrible appetizer that had included Tofu, dinner had come. They'd had Kare Raisu, Chawanmushi, Soba, and Yakisoba with an okay desert of Azuki Shiratama. Frowning the boy stood back up and started his decent again. He still had two hours of practice left.

In those two hours Hachiro had managed to get only about ten feet from the bottom, Izur was about half way there and Leiko still had a good thirty five feet to go. But they were grinning at each other, convinced that by the time they had dinner with the Inuzuka's they would have mastered the techniques. The boy watched as his teammate's headed back towards the village. However he decided that since he was still a good ten feet behind Hachiro he needed to continue practicing.

He had to catch up, and he does it with his clothes on and the knowledge that he had to meet Masaru and his team at four so that they could dine with the Akimichi's. He wondered if they would have to fight anyone from the Akimichi clan, he doubted it. They were a peaceful bunch.

Izur grinned as he started up the water his hundred and fifty pound weights changing the way he had to adjust to the water. Making it that much harder, but in his first try he had made it more then two thirds of the way to the top. An hour later and he was walking to the top and about fifteen feet down. He was where Leiko was at the moment and if he did this without clothes on he felt sure that he could walk up and down it without problems.

He looked up watching the sun, it was only eleven, and since it took about ten minuets to get back to the village he figured he could keep going for fifty more minuets then head back for lunch and a four hour taijutsu training session. He went towards the waterfall again, unaware of the eyes that watched him work.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Izur had made it back to the village a little late having forgotten the time, and as he entered a little café he was surprised to see Masaru watching the client. He gave a slight wave before making his way towards them. He pulled a chair next to his teachers and sat looking curiously at him before glowering at the fat man.

"Been training still?" Masaru looked down at his youngest student and watched the boy nod, almost hesitantly. "Hai, Masaru-Sempai. I'm sure that by the time the Inuzuka dinner comes around I shall have mastered it to your satisfaction." The merchant was watching the two of them carefully; he knew that the little boy and his pet didn't like him.

He also knew that the Jounin did not like him either, but he was more professional then the boy. "Do you want a break Masaru-Sempai? I can watch the lard until dinner rolls around." Masaru grinned, broadly down at his student before nodding. "Sure, just make sure no one messes with him or that he gets harmed." The boy nodded and watched as Masaru ran off to do whatever he could with his free time.

Izur pulled a scroll from his pocket summoning his book on Advanced Weapon information and started to read from where he'd left off. This reading was helping his abilities, he was surprised by that. Already he'd developed a more accurate way to throw his Kunai and shuriken and how to put more power behind it. He was hoping that he could finish at least ten of the books before he had to leave for Suna.

Izur stood up as his charge was about to surprising the man; he was getting better after all. Though he wasn't perfect at it yet. Izur followed his charge head buried into the book while he tried to notice as much around him as possible. He did miss several incredulous looks.

When the fat man stopped Izur looked up wondering what they were doing at the hot springs. He had assumed that the man would have business, but apparently this was also about just relaxing. Shrugging the boy followed the man not even paying attention to the receptionist that was trying to tell him he shouldn't go in with clothes on.

It helped that he could pretend like he didn't hear someone, even if he really did. As the lard sunk into the water causing it to rise a few inches Izur rested his back against the bamboo fence that separated and hide the different onsen's from each other. Izur looked up as another person entered their onsen's and raised an eyebrow at the scarred man.

He had a bandanna over his head still but their was a large scar on his face. Izur ignored him and went back to reading his book, listening intently to the conversation. "So do you have it?" The scarred man looked around while Izur turned his page before nodding. "Hai, Raishu-Sama." Izur raised an eyebrow, so _that_ was his client's name. Oh well he'd forget it in a moment anyways.

However the next words made him grip his book tightly. "Good here's the information you wanted." Izur lowered the book suddenly fixing a fierce gaze on his client and the scarred man, a low growl emitting from his throat. "Lard, that damned well better not be information on _my_ village."

The condescending tone had the client turning towards the small boy in shock. The scarred man was grinning as he stood and Izur frowned, he had not walked in with clothes, but now he had them. It was obvious this was a shinobi, and he had more then likely realized who Izur was as well.

The boy closed the book placing it back in the kunai/shuriken pouch and glared daggers at the man. "The scroll." The scarred man held it out and as Izur opened it, he frowned. Looking hard at the fat man who almost seemed to be grinning at them. "Why would trade agreements such as this need to be done so secretly?" The smiles faded off the offenders faces but Izur merely stared at them.

The scarred man stepped from the Onsen and held his hand out for the scroll while focusing a good bit of killing intent on the boy. "None of your business kid." Izur frowned lips drawing back slightly, he could feel Kat stiffening beside him and the soft growl that told him of approaching shinobi.

Izur was about to pocket the scroll and Shunshin out of there, he was sure he could evade at least one shinobi. He was sure this guy was probably at the Jounin level at least; what with Masaru being the one to generally handle this they would need that. However when he went to move he found himself frozen stiff with a kunai at his neck.

He could smell the woman holding him, and frowned at it another more dangerous snarl leaving his lips. Kat wasn't being so nice though and he whipped around catching the woman's leg in his teeth and causing her to yelp in pain. But she was too professional to let go of her hold on him. If fact she tightened it, to the point that the Kunai cut into his throat.

Another growl started in the back of his throat until he felt a sudden pain and his vision began to swim a bit. "Is Kumo going back on their agreement?" He blinked trying to understand what he was being asked. His body felt weird and that lady wasn't holding him anymore, or he thought so. Something felt weird.

"Is Kumo going back on their agreement?" This time the question was punctuated with pain, and it was a _weird_ pain. Izur tried to curl around it avoid it, but found that he couldn't move. He could partially see the Kunai sticking through his arm, but he couldn't get at it.

"Who are you?" The boy tried to focus on that voice but it swam, like it was distorted or something and then he felt the Kunai again, and a snarl made it past his lips and he glared daggers at the scarred shinobi. But in the corner of his vision he could see something else, and he tried to jerk his head over it was simply something purple, but that was what had the pain.

That was causing the pain, he kept trying to force himself at the woman, and he'd kill her he would. That was when he realized something was buzzing in his ear he frowned growling about, until he realized it was words. "Fine, if you won't talk we'll make you. You will feel pain until you answer my questions."

Izur was about to ask what questions when suddenly his body lit on fire and the snarling in his throat grew until he heard two blessed words. In a voice he recognized, slightly at least. "Stop it." The kunai that had been in the process of being dragged across his chest stopped, but wasn't pulled out. Izur tried to see who it was, confirm if he was being saved.

"What's the meaning of your torturing my student? This was supposed to be a simple exchange." The two shinobi that were bent over him looked back at the boy that was in the bluntest way, a mess. "Did he know about it, Zetsumei?" The man looked at his client anger and killing intent sparking in them he turned on the man and landed next to him a hand grabbing the back of his neck.

"You didn't tell him did you?" Masaru's voice dropped lower and became a death threat with every word. The fat man shook his head trying to get out of the grip that he was held in. Izur was trying to sit up, his mind awash with bloody thoughts on how to get the one that had caused him pain. "Are you fucking serious? Shit!" The woman's voice beat into his ears and his snarling grew worse, he'd kill her.

That was a promise he would not break. The scarred man look slightly put out as he looked from the bloody kid to the fat lard. "Damn. So will Kumo be holding us responsible for your man's mistake?" Izur wondered what they were talking about; he'd heard the word 'Kumo' and 'your'. He grinned suddenly at that, it was his Kumo, that's what they'd said.

"No. We'll deal with this our own way." The two shinobi nodded, but as they stood up Masaru suddenly leapt forwards catching Izur by the throat his mouth less then an inch from the Kunoichi neck. He was frothing and snarling as he lunged against the hand on his neck. It didn't take long for the madness he was exhibiting to die down; after all he was incapable of breathing.

When he saw nothing but blackness with a sprinkle of light dots all over the place Masaru dropped him watching as the body thunked and then curled into itself. "You should watch your back, he shares too much of that wolf's personality for you to dismiss him so quickly." The purple haired woman looked at the twitching form before shrugging.

"We'll leave, then. Oh and Zetsumei… sorry about the kid." The man only nodded hefting the eleven year old up, the wolf with him. He turned stony eyes on the client, his voice coming out like the winter chill. "You will pay for this." With that the Jounin turned leaving with his light burden, and hoping that nothing was permanent. Those two could do quite the number on someone if they so wanted.

And they'd looked like they had wanted to.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Izur woke with what felt like not only the worst headache in the world, but the worst body aches too. He tried to push himself up but found that his arms had decided they wanted to resemble jelly and refused to help. He frowned as he rolled his head looking about himself and trying to find out where he was. Seeing that he was in the hotel he looked down at himself wondering how he'd arrived here.

His body was wrapped in red and white medicinal wraps, Izur couldn't connect anything about that just yet. Other then the fact that he was sure he probably looked like a Popsicle. He frowned, why was his mind on food right now? Shaking out any cobwebs that might still be there, he groaned as it made the head ache worse. He blinked owlishly as he slowly came to the realization that he was only wearing a pair of boxers.

He didn't know where his clothes had run off to. Suddenly he snickered at the thought of his clothes ditching him; his mind gave him a mental movie of the clothes hopping off and running away screaming about the shit he put them through, literally. About the time this had started Masaru had stepped into check on his youngest student wondering what he was laughing about.

As he watched his student he decided he didn't want to know, whatever they'd done to him he wasn't being Izur at the moment. There was no telling what the kid would do during the dinner but if he could walk there and stay awake, Masaru would bring him. Sighing the older shinobi approached the boy.

"I see you've woken." Izur started to snicker again, before he spoke his voice sounding relatively impish. "Nope I'm still dreaming and you're nothing but an apparition." The Jounin blinked, wondering what had brought that on. "What makes you think you're dreaming boy?" Izur snickered again as he lifted his arm and pinched, hard, one of the red spots on the wraps.

"Can't feel it when I pinch myself. So therefore I _am_ asleep." Masaru sweat dropped as he watched his student repeatedly pinch himself, he wasn't about to tell the kid that he'd given him a _very_ powerful pain killer. Not yet at least, the kid would need to be in his right state of mind for something like that to happen.

"Whatever, can you walk?" Izur snorted at the question like it was something everyone should know. "Nope I seem to have lost my legs in a horrible fight against the evil pancakes." Masaru shook his head standing up; he wasn't sure how much he could take of this freakish version of his student. He wondered if he maybe should have allowed the two Konoha Shinobi to just kill him. Because if _this_ was how he would act from now on it definitely wasn't worth it.

"Come on, you need to get dressed so we can head to dinner with the Akimichi clan." Izur just nodded, sniggering something to himself as he swung his completely non existent legs so that he was sitting. Well it wasn't his fault his damned legs kept disappearing; Izur wondered briefly what he would do when his legs did that while he was walking. He was pretty sure he'd fall though, that seemed like a logical conclusion.

As the boy followed Masaru from the room and started throwing on the clothes handed to him he looked down and his eyes bugged out. "I'm floating?" he tilted his head as he looked down at the legs that had disappeared. Well at least he wouldn't fall when it happened, that had saved him some pain. He'd forgotten that he couldn't feel anything at the moment; Masaru was staring at the kid wondering what was going on.

"I'm not sure I should allow you to go." Izur turned suddenly, wondering how he'd done it while floating of course. "Nu unh. I'm goin and that's final. Plus I wanna see if those piggy's can keep up cause I'm a tad bit famished." Masaru blinked, he began to plot a way to kill his own student, he was unsure of how much longer he could handle the boy acting as he was.

"Just don't call them fat." Izur looked at the man like he had grown several more heads. Well for all he knew, he could have. "Well why not? They are fat; someone should tell them the truth." Masaru sighed; the real Izur would have known the answer to that question or just agreed without pressing for it. Damned, freaking, fat ass pig that had messed everything up. He would kill that man for this.

"Because, it makes them angry and they'll clobber you." Izur nodded, smiling and grinning like Masaru had just told him he'd get whatever he wanted for Christmas that year. The boy waved one of his arms limply in a dismissal gesture. "Ahh no worries sensei, I can't feel nothing anyways, this is a dream remember. What would be more fun then pissing off a bunch of fat asses anyways?"

The boy started to whistle as he headed towards what he thought was the door of the apartment. Masaru watched as the kid walked into the wall and smacked his head hard. He stood up rubbing it and giggling like some little school girl with a secret. Now he was heading towards the window and looked to be thinking that, that was the door. Masaru groaned as he watched the boy put a foot out the window. He started to silently curse all fat merchants every where.

Sneezes were heard all around the five great villages that day.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Hachiro and Leiko were watching Izur carefully, trying to make sure that he didn't cause any trouble. Masaru had already told them that the boy had been… poisoned, and it was inducing an odd reaction in him. They could see what the odd reaction was; they just wanted to know why he was having them.

Izur grinned as he saw another batch of people steer clear of the Kumo shinobi. He did a small spin and headed off down a side ride road only to be pulled up short by someone grabbing his neck. "Wrong way Gaki." The person, a decidedly female voice, then proceeded to drag him away from his intended objective.

Izur growled and squirmed in the grasp until it pushed him off to walk after Masaru. Looking over his shoulder he gave Leiko a pouting look before grinning suddenly and sticking his tongue out. She rose an eyebrow in curiosity of just what he intended to do next and sighed when he dashed towards Masaru. This was getting just a tad bit ridiculous, and even if the old Izur had been insufferable with that tree up his ass, at least they didn't have to baby sit him.

His companion didn't seem too happy about any of it either, for every time the boy made to do something stupid or childish the wolf would let out either a disgruntled growl or an outright snarl at him. By the time they had gotten to the Akimichi compound (which really was just a relatively large house with an even larger backyard) the Kumo shinobi were fed up with their youngest member.

Going so far as to give him displeased looks, despite the fact that they were in public. The door was opened by Choza who only grinned madly at them while beckoning them to hurry inside and not let the chill in, or suffer the wrath of his wife.

The Kumo shinobi had no idea what he meant by chill, this was a measly fifty degrees, something they got on a regular basis during summer. They shrugged it off with the explanation that Konoha just bred thin blooded people.

"A pleasure to meet you again Akimichi-Sama. These are my students Himiloh Izur, Fukazawa Leiko, and Oonishi Hachiro." The large, jolly looking man chuckled before responding. "Come, call me Choza. Also I'd like to introduce you to my son." The three nodded, though when they started forwards Choza picked that moment to comment on their lessened numbers.

"So where's your third member?" The genin blanched and Masaru looked thunderous at the fact that no one had noticed Izur sneaking off. But Choza received his answer in a loud crash, instead of words. The four shinobi rushed to the dining room where a hysterically laughing Izur was rolling on the ground.

A large boy, who looked about twelve, was glowering at the smaller form of his tormentor. And the reason for the clash was evident as they all stared at the bucket that was lying near the door. The large puddle was all they needed to know to complete the puzzle. Masaru turned to Choza and bowed, deeply, "I apologize Choza-Sama, if you would like I can explain what is wrong with the boy in a different room."

The large man nodded, a smile flittered across his face as he watched Izur and Chouji go at it about what flavored chips were the best. "That would be good, as for you kids this is my son Chouji." With that the two adults left the room to angry grumbling and an escalating argument.

Izur grinned as he goaded Chouji into giving him more free food, it wasn't hard. By bringing up what food tasted better, he'd pretty much challenged the other boy to prove his version and to do that he had to allow the Kumo genin to taste the food. Izur rocked back on his heals munching and grinned before speaking again. "Nah, not the best kind at all. The lemon-lime fire hot barbeque is the best."

Chouji looked distraught as he realized that all his chips were gone. But he did glower at the Kumo genin with something akin to unrealized horror and exasperation. "That's what I've been saying this entire time."

Izur had the decency to at least pretend that he was sheepish over the whole argument. "Ehh? Are you sure? I could have sworn that you said the sweet and sour one was the best." Chouji continued to stare at Izur in exasperated silence while his team continued to look angrier.

The eventual punishment was averted however by Choza and Masaru walking back in the room, looking the same as always. Well Choza had a curious look on his face, but none of the genin knew whether this was normal or not. Izur grinned as he slapped Chouji on the back before making a comment to the two adults in the room. "Me and Chouji here had finally come to an agreement Choza-Sama."

The man raised his eyebrows slightly before making a motion to continue on. Izur obliged willingly, "That the lemon-lime fire hot barbeque chips is the all time best chip flavor in the world." Choza's eyes seemed to light with a fire as he threw back his own retort to the boys.

"Incorrect, the Flaming hot miso steakified chip flavor is even better." Izur drew himself up to retort a slight grin playing across his face.

0o0o0o0o0o0oo0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

**Techniques:**

**Tsuuten Kyaku - Bruising Sky Leg - **Using monstrous strength, the user will raise their leg in a high arc, and bring it thundering down causing massive damage to whatever it impacts. Note – The one used in this chapter and by ANYONE other then Tsunade or Sakura is an imperfect one that relies on pure muscle power that is only mildly enhanced by chakra and extended use of the techniques cause them to slow down since they can not release the chakra correctly.

**Gouwan - Strong Arm - **Using the skills passed down by from Tsunade, The user is able to utilize powerful strikes. The user will first build up a high amount of chakra to her fist and then release it in an instant. Note – The one used in this chapter and by ANYONE other then Tsunade or Sakura is an imperfect one that relies on pure muscle power that is only mildly enhanced by chakra and extended use of the techniques cause them to slow down since they can not release the chakra correctly.

**Doryuu Taiga - Earth Flow River - **Doton • Doryuu Taiga is a Ninjutsu technique utilizing the Earth Element. The ninja will do the necessary hand seals and transform the ground upon which the enemy stands into a river of mud. 

**Next Chapter: **Venison is a tasty thing

**Chapter Info:** Will Izur get over his 'allergic' reaction to the drug the Konoha shinobi put in him or will he get worse? In the next installment our young team finds themselves meeting the laziest and then smelliest people ever, how will they _ever_ cope with it?


	23. Mission Arc: Flirting?

Shattered Dreams

_**Shattered Dreams**_

_**Disclaimer: **_I do not own Naruto or any ideas concerned with it.

_**Authors Note: **_Yo! I kinda rushed through this one, sorry but I hope you like the slightly more human side of Izur that's been shown. Oh and I know I haven't really mentioned his 'smoking' habit but that's because for the moment he's trying to learn how to smoke without throwing up or coughing. Anyways Installment Twenty Three!

**Chapter 23: Venison is a tasty thing**

Several things happened at once that had the young black haired boy wondering just briefly about his sanity.

The first happened to be the fact that he was standing on top of a waterfall wearing _nothing_.

The second happened to be that he had no idea _how_ he'd gotten there to begin with.

The third was that his last memory happened to be when the sun was at its _zenith_ and now it wasn't even up.

The fourth was that he had a pounding headache and something about him was _tingling_ with what he thought might be anticipation.

The fifth, and final thing, was that he couldn't _remember_ anything that had happened for, what he was guessing, twenty four hours. His last memory consisted of a fight against some stuck up black haired kid.

Frowning the boy looked down the waterfall and took a step and started to walk down the thing, he wasn't sure why but he felt that he knew how to do this. Must have been something he'd learned before the memory loss, though that had to mean that it was more then twenty four hours.

The boy stopped walking as he looked around for his clothes, hoping that they were here. Grumbling when he failed to find anything he stalked off his hands forming a seal and henging a pair of clothes on his body. He continued to grumble as he made his way back towards where he thought Konohagakure was.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

It was about two hours later, he wasn't too sure about that though, that he had finally managed to get back into Konoha and find the apartment they were staying at. As he opened the door to the room he was immediately attacked.

One moment he was standing and the next he was wondering if his head was still in place. He heard someone say something, but whoever it was must have been very far away because Izur really couldn't understand what it was they were saying.

He tried pushing himself out of the wall but he was stuck in it pretty well, Masaru was going to be very pissed when this came up in the morning. Just as he was about to lose his temper and cause more damage two large hands gripped his arms and yanked him out of the wall.

He could hear something similar to loud raucous laughing coming from within the room, and as he blinked trying to clear his fuzzy vision he glared at the laughing thing. "And _what_ is so funny?" He was still trying to get all of his senses back under control.

"Where are your clothes Izur?" A voice he understood, though seemed slightly distorted came at him. A moment later the boys hands came up and he henged the clothes back on. He mumbled something but it was too low for any of the others to hear. "What?" This voice was another familiar, and still male and he frowned towards it before grating out his response.

"I. Don't. Know." He heard the laughing redouble and glared towards the, now slowly sharper image of the person. Finally the same male voice from before spoke, "And are you Izur or the drug crazed one?" Another low growl from him and a matching one from the long since unnoticed wolf standing near him.

"Drug crazed? What are you talking about?"

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

At four o'clock the four cloud shinobi finally left their apartment having made sure that Izur understood everything that had happened since he had been drugged by the Konoha ANBU members. He'd been relatively pissed, even going so far as to say he didn't mind if they failed this C Rank mission.

Masaru had told him that they would complete the C Rank mission and that the man would be properly punished later on. Izur was still grumbling even after being briefed on everything that had happened, which was at least slightly understandable. Though now they were off to continue training, though Izur was relatively proud that he seemed to have mastered it.

Once there they set to work showing Masaru how well they had done, Izur came close to being able to do the full up and down walk with all his clothes and weights on. The other two were able to get about seventy five percent of the way through the entire thing, give or take a bit.

Less then an hour later Izur was standing in front of Masaru standing at attention as the man inspected him. "What are your elemental affinities?" Izur thought for a moment, he's been told when he was only five at the start of his shinobi training.

"My father told me my primary affinity was for lightning but that I had a secondary affinity for water." The man nodded in thought, before speaking again. "Do you know the technique Suiton • Baku Suishouha?" It only took a moment for the boy to shake his head in the negative. The man nodded then turning towards the water.

"Good, then I will teach you this technique. Watch my hands carefully for I will only show you the hand seals once." The boy nodded and watched as his mentor went through the hand seals, almost too fast for the boy to follow and then a moment later he drew back his hand and out burst a massive quantity of water and from there it only multiplied and rushed straight forwards into the lake they were training at.

"There now get to practicing, I expect it to be combating capable by the time we reach Sunagakure." The boy nodded his own hands flashing through the seals much, much slower before drawing back his head and spitting out a small bit of water. It was enough to maybe fill a wine glass, and it multiplied into enough to maybe fill the wine bottle.

Izur growled starting again and trying to focus on the feeling of his water based chakra, it was harder then his feeling with lightning but he knew he could get this well before he came to Suna. Especially since he really wouldn't be able to practice something like his water techniques in Suna very well.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

An hour and a half later both Hachiro and Leiko stood in front of Masaru watching him as he watched them. They'd just managed to complete the Waterfall walking themselves though it seemed that they wouldn't get a break either. They'd seen Izur practicing his new technique and he'd made enough progress that it might be worthwhile in making five cups of water when he spit it out and then twenty when he multiplied it.

Not bad for such little time passed, not great with his affinity and amount of water techniques. "Hachiro what are your affinities?" The boy answered immediately; apparently they stuck out more in his mind. "The water and earth elements, sir." Masaru nodded before pointing at Izur lazily, "Do you know the technique he is using?" The older boy shook his head, but Masaru just nodded before speaking again. "Good, go have him show you the hand seals and explain it. You have until we reach Sunagakure to make it combat capable."

The boy nodded hurrying over to his teammate to get his explanation when he arrived next to Izur and explained himself for interrupting Izur merely looked irritated before starting to explain. Masaru smirked slightly before turning his attention back to Leiko and asking the same question as with the boys. "And your affinities are?"

She was as quick to respond as Hachiro had been. "Fire and lightning, sir." Masaru nodded going through his own limited arsenal of Jutsus before landing on one. "This is one of the Kobayashi's created techniques I won it off them when I dueled their clan head and won."

Leiko nodded, understanding that if and when they found out she knew this technique she would be more then likely required to duel for it. Add to the fact that their clan would _not_ be happy to know that one of its techniques had been given to another clan, especially one as 'low' as hers. "With that said it is called the Katon no Muchi and…"

She interrupted briefly, "The whip of fire, will it be similar to the whip of water?" The man nodded, mildly surprised that she even knew of the water whip. "Yes, only it is harder to perform as he can burn your hand if you do not master it. Now watch, these are the hand seals and I will only show you once."

With that he flashed through the three hand seals at a mediocre speed before bringing his hands to his lips and allowed the flames to come from it and make a long unwieldy looking whip in his hand. A moment later he flashed his hand and it snapped against the ground making it catch fire and leaving a deeply scorched groove where it had hit.

"You must concentrate chakra to your hand while you wield it or you will burn your hand." The girl nodded before Masaru turned to leave, he spoke loud enough for all three to hear. "You may stop practicing at noon, we have dinner with the Nara clan so meet me at four by the apartment."

With that the mentor of the Kumo shinobi disappeared to allow his team to continue their training. He was pretty sure they would train until three, after all they only had maybe two weeks maximum to master their new techniques before he forced them to move on.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

At four a tired team of genin had met their instructor, looking recently showered but not any less ragged. They'd made it to the Nara compound at four thirty and were now being escorted by a bored looking teenager who wore a Hitae-ate on his forehead. They'd seen several deer moving through the forest, and it took ten minuets at their slow pace to make it to the house.

Once they were ushered inside they were greeted by a man of medium height (Masaru mad him look like a midget), he stood about five foot seven. The man had a scar on his jaw and looked as bored as the almost mini me like clone next to him. The boy next to his looked slouched and bored as well, had his hair up so that it resembled something close to a fruit, and wore to Hitae-ate like his father.

The final member was the woman who stood next to the Nara Clan head and looked positively brimming with energy. Masaru nodded to the odd threesome before speaking. "A pleasure to meet you again Nara-Dono." The man waved away the formal greeting. "Yea… this is really troublesome but…" The man didn't get to continue whatever he was going to say because of the sudden feeling of killer intent the woman released.

Izur and his team had taken immediate defensive positions when the woman had started to leak her intent. "Oh ignore him, he's just being lazy. We are glad to have you here, though we know the other clans have been allowing spars between you and then we've decided that we won't need one. Anyways I don't believe I've met any of you before, I am Yoshino."

Masaru took the lead, admitting to himself that the woman surprised him. "I am Zetsumei Masaru." Izur gave a slight bow before speaking, "I am Himiloh Izur and these are my teammates Oonishi Hachiro and Fukazawa Leiko." When he said their name they bowed to indicate who was who. They received nods of acknowledgement before the young Nara clone was smacked in the back of the head.

"This is so… Uhm never mind." The look alike stopped whatever he was going to say when he felt the spike in his mothers killing intent. "I'm Shikamaru." Was all he got out before he got into any more trouble. The woman smiled, one that looked like it promised pain if they didn't go along with whatever it was she wanted.

Despite where they came from all three genin felt a small amount of fear from this woman, Masaru was finding this situation more and more interesting as time passed.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Izur rolled out of bed early, only an hour though since it was two o'clock he moved around getting showered, dressed, and then eating breakfast. He grinned as he stepped out and wrote a quick note before leaving. He'd get a good thirty minuets more of practice then his fellows, maybe more if he hurried.

It was only about forty five minuets later that Masaru showed up with the other two in tow looking mildly annoyed and holding the note. He crumbled it before throwing a kunai at his youngest students head. The boy ducked wheeling around and bringing his own kunai out only to stop as he recognized his attacker.

He looked weary but otherwise slightly relaxed; Masaru also couldn't help but raised his eyebrows at the sluggish movements of his student. But he noted that the weights had probably been upgraded and that was more then likely the explanation for it. Not too bad of a move considering it would give him two days to get used to the weights before having to leave on their week long trip to Suna.

Especially since there were reports of bandit activity in that area increasing a bit. Not bad at all. "Next time wake us." The boy just nodded before going back to work and not commenting, he wanted to get this technique down. And it would do no good to waste time speaking about it when he could continue working.

"You're done at eleven today, and I suggest you get some rest. The Inuzuka's will undoubtedly want to fight." The team gave their assent before getting down to practicing again. At around nine Izur ran out of chakra with which to practice with, he would have to do something else from this point on so he took off to do taijutsu training.

The fight with the Inuzuka's would be something more with Taijutsu then any of the others. Though he figured if he had to, he could show his abilities with the other two ninja arts in order to beat his opponent down. He continued to assault his targets, the trees, with Katzinsky.

Their teamwork was anything but flawless, but they were getting better. And since they didn't have any jutsus that the two could use together they had no problems splitting up and making more in depth plans. It was more like two people fighting together, especially since they got into so many arguments about it.

On this day Izur would only stay two hours later then normal before heading back to Konoha, his teammates had already done so feeling no need to practice now that their assigned tasks were currently unreachable with their chakra levels.

Well that was a lie each Genin had stopped practice with chakra once they were down to some where near half of what they had originally. It was a rule Masaru had made sure to impart to them that whenever training in foreign lands only use half your chakra so that you will still be useful in a fight. In Kumo they were aloud to use two thirds of their chakra so that just in case something happened they could do _something_.

Izur frowned as he walked into Konoha, he and Kat looked around. They were both coated in sweat and Izur intended to let everyone know how sluggish he was with these weights. He'd already developed a plan on how to at least get whatever opponent he had to underestimate him.

Grinning the boy took off at a leisurely jog towards the Konoha academy. They should be breaking for lunch soon and he could talk to Naruto, it would be beneficial to see what he had improved upon. The simple fact that he had gotten the Henge down so quickly spoke well of his abilities.

As Izur entered the courtyard he paused for a moment looking at all the children running around, and he frowned before spotting the familiar blonde hair sitting on a swing. He headed towards him head cocked to the side slightly as he took in his foreign friend? Acquaintance? Enemy? Rival? He wasn't really sure what Naruto was to him, but that didn't really matter for the moment.

"Uzumaki-San." The boys head jerked up and he looked sad until he suddenly grinned at seeing who was speaking to him. Izur was mildly stunned by the change, after all he couldn't see that sad look on the Uzumaki's face and this odd happiness felt real. Though why anyone would be happy to see him was odd, especially since he was a foreigner here. Shrugging the thought about Izur grinned back, slightly, before listening to what Naruto had to say.

"Hey I mastered everything except for three techniques, well from the Basics list. Do… do you think you could help me a bit?" Izur looked at the boy with slightly raised eyebrows. "How long is your lunch period?" The boy looked around thinking for a moment, "An hour, so I have forty minuets left." Izur nodded before motioning for Izur to follow him.

The two left the school grounds, while being watched by numerous pairs of eyes. Izur had been well aware of how quiet people had gotten when he'd talked to Naruto, but seeing him leave with the kid seemed to have silenced even more of them further. He shrugged his shoulders at the thought as he led Naruto to a small training area they could use.

It was a small groove, hidden by trees but easily accessible and from Izur had seen well known as well. "Ok which ones have you mastered?" Naruto grinned before speaking again. "Well I've gotten Kakuremino, Bikou, Kawarimi, Henge, Shunshin, and Nawanuke down." Izur nodded thinking over what he had told the kid.

"So that leaves Kai, Kinobori no Waza, and Bunshin." The blonde haired boy nodded and Izur felt mildly surprised, this could get all those down but not _Bunshin_ it seemed mildly ridiculous. "All right I'm going to show you how to do each of the ones you haven't done then you have to show me your proficiency in the ones you have mastered." The blonde boy nodded again and Izur walked towards a tree indicating it.

"Watch, you concentrate chakra to your feet and then walk up it without using your hands." Before the boy could say anything else Izur started to do so and he watched as the boy's mouth flew open. "Oh… ok so I bet it can be done on other surfaces like buildings, mountains, and…"

He halted for a moment looking unsure of himself but Izur just motioned for him to continue. "Well I know it sounds stupid but… can you walk on water with the technique too?"

Izur just nodded before speaking again, and making sure he looked and sounded completely serious. "Yes, waterfalls as well and it's not stupid in fact most people never realize it at all." Naruto grinned at the rare praise. "For Bunshin you need less then the amount you use for Henge but only by a little."

Shrugging Izur looked at the tree, "If you master Kinobori no Waza, and its counterparts like the water and waterfall walking then Bunshin should come easy. As for Kai, you just have to shut off the chakra flow to your brain. Again with these tree, water, and waterfall walking you should get that easy as well."

Naruto nodded looking happy, and as Izur jumped down he looked at the boy again, he was dressed in a pair of black pants made of some leather like material and his shirt was dark blue with a bright orange Uzumaki swirl in the middle on the back. "Good luck, and remember to be back at school I want to fight you when your smart and strong Naruto not one or the other."

Naruto just nodded before heading towards the tree to start his training, Izur just grinned before sauntering off. Maybe when he became a Jounin he'd ask to take on a team of genin. It was… entertaining to watch the determination they had and then the failure. Or maybe he was just sadistic enough to want to watch them go through all those horrible D ranked missions as well. Eh both reasons suited him well enough, for now it was lunch time.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Izur and Katzinsky (who had somehow managed it) were sitting in a tree watching the Konoha academy class. He was suppressing his chakra completely and as he watched the middle height man with the scar across his nose talk to his students about weapons accuracy. He could see Naruto looking impatient, the Uchiha looking impassive and several females fawning over him.

He wondered how this teacher could handle it, but his eyes were in the Inuzuka in the bunch. He was more interested in how well this boy did since it would determine how his fight might go. Though apparently since the students were having such a hard time paying attention the teacher called for some sparring matches to be done. Grinning the cloud shinobi sat up, he'd much rather see this then that lecture.

The first couple of matches were nothing but boring brawls between people who didn't matter to the young shinobi. But the next match was between that Hyuuga and one of the fan girls. This one was the one with _pink_ (of all the damned colors Izur could not believe a _Kunoichi_ in training would ever dye their hair pink and that the instructors would allow them) hair start to face off. The pink haired girl had no real stance but the Hyuuga was in her gentle fist style.

It wouldn't have been a fight at all if the Hyuuga wasn't so shy (and what and oxymoron that was) instead that the Hyuuga just avoided the blows looking embarrassed as her slow opponent began to become infuriated. Izur frowned; she wouldn't be worth anything in the Chuunin exams, if they let her in that was. Though he was surprised when the girl moved in suddenly and struck the pink haired girl five times on each of her shoulders.

A moment later and the Hyuuga was declared the winner since little pinky there couldn't fight any more. He felt himself growling slightly as he saw _tears_ in little pinky's eyes, he had to physically restrain himself from attacking her and then telling her off for being such a dimwit.

He frowned as finally the Inuzuka was called to fight the Akimichi, Izur paid close attention as the young Inuzuka assaulted his opponent head on. So the boy was rash, Izur certainly hoped he got to fight him, though his teamwork with his pup was much better then Izur's and Katzinsky.

Though Kaczynski's superior build, strength, and speed would be a great benefit they would not overcome. Though the other boy was slightly taller then him, he was broader which meant he more then likely had the upper hand in the muscle build. One on one, Izur was prepared to say Taijutsu wise that they were matched pretty evenly when he wore his weights, well not today's weights at least.

The fight ended with the fat boy giving in saying he'd rather eat his chips, Izur was about to get up and leave when Naruto's name was called to fight the Uchiha's. Stopping Izur turned to watch, he was interested to see what Naruto would do against the broody boy. Especially since Izur wasn't sure what he'd done with the advanced techniques yet.

Unlike in his fight with Izur Naruto did not rush in immediately, instead he took stock of his opponent. Apparently this was some cause of surprise for everyone present since the fight had been called to start but Naruto hadn't slung any insults or rushed in. Though when Izur heard the Uchiha's words he was not surprised that Naruto did attack. Calling someone a coward because they were gauging there opponent was a low tactic but it worked.

Until Naruto surprised the Uchiha with his new speed, even with the weights. His fist connected and knocked the boy down, but he wasn't given time to get back up and attack as Naruto continued after him. Izur could see the slightly bulky forms of the weights on his arms and legs, so he knew that without them Naruto would have decimated his opponent.

It was good that he choose not to take them off though, apparently he was starting to listen. Naruto was knocked back and beaten by the Uchiha's fire jutsu; he wasn't knocked out or done fighting he could have continued. But the fight was called because no one believed he could. Izur grinned standing up and leaving as he headed back towards their current residence so he could shower and get ready to fight the Inuzuka.

He felt slightly proud towards Naruto; it was probably a good thing he didn't hear all the insults being slung now that he wasn't watching.

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Two hours later Izur found himself and his fellow shinobi standing in front of Inuzuka Tsume, Inuzuka Hana, and Inuzuka Kiba being growled at by five dogs. Four of which actually seemed mildly threatening. Katzinsky was growling back.

They had already introduced themselves and he was being eyed up and down by the two Inuzuka women, though he had his head down slightly and he was meeting both their gazes. Katzinsky had taken the time to explain what a weakness looked like between animals and Izur refused to show it. He could see a grudging gleam of respect in Hana's eyes but a look of irritation in Tsume's face. He'd figured Tsume was somewhere around thirty six or higher and Hana was probably fifteen or sixteen. She looked older but that was just how it felt.

"I'm looking forwards to watching you spar, from what my son says you were around the academy today and looked to be dragging a bit." Izur pretended to look surprised but nodded, almost warily. For he was wary he did not need to fake that. "Yes… I was near the academy today."

The woman nodded before continuing and the smug look on her face, which should have made him feel dread only made him want to smirk. "Judging from your appearance and see how you're dragging yourself now and then I'll bet you're wearing a new set of weights."

Izur adopted the same stunned looks that his team had, though he was trying very, very hard not to smile at the woman for making his job so much easier. Masaru who already knew this looked annoyed that he hadn't been smarter in hiding it. "You're bet is correct." She nodded continuing to look smug before speaking again. "Good, then you'll get to face off against Kiba here, now come on."

He could feel Masaru's glare but he made the quick hand sign they had come up with that meant don't worry. With that done he followed the woman until they were standing in a small training area in the back. Kiba had already moved to one end and Izur took up the other. He patted Katzinsky on the head absent mindedly.

"I won't give you a chance to remove your weights." With that the boy launched himself forwards and Izur grinned, using the boys thoughts that he would be slowed down to his advantage and moving straight at the headstrong Inuzuka catching him by surprised with the punch.

A moment later he was sitting on the boy's chest a kunai at his throat and Katzinsky had already gotten Akamaru in his jaws. "Yield?" He said it as pleasantly as possible and when he was given a nod he stood up a gave a low whistle, only to have Katzinsky let go of the small dog and trot over to him. "A trick?" Izur grinned looking over at Tsume and Hana before speaking. His grin showed his elongated canines, and unlike Inuzuka's all four of his were elongated giving him a more feral appearance.

Except for maybe his slightly less scruffy looking appearance, the lack of slitted eyes, and the lack of the clan markings he could have passed for an Inuzuka. "That's right, only I was wearing heavier weights the whole day except for when I took them off before coming here. At the moment I have no weights on."

The two women nodded, and though Kiba looked pissed he'd seemed to have figured that without the handicap of his opponent having weights he didn't stand a chance. Not after watching the boy dominates the Uchiha bastard so easily with weights on. "Fine then, we don't really get too good of a test without facing you against a much stronger opponent. Hana?"

The older teenager nodded moving forwards and Izur relaxed himself slightly before nodding towards her and speaking. "Exactly how old are you Inuzuka-Dono?" The teenager looked at him carefully before responding, adding her flair of sarcasm into it. "Sixteen, why looking for a date." He bared his teeth in a silent laugh but played along for a moment. "You never know, five years isn't that great of a difference."

He could feel the surprised looks from his team and the amusement of his teacher. He could feel the surprise from the girl but their was amusement from her as well. "Well at least you're not as much of a stuck up prig as I thought." He grinned and she knew what was coming, though it still irritated her. "Well at least you're not as much of a slut as I thought."

She growled as did Kiba but they could both hear laughter coming from the two 'official' adults (in age at least). She grinned, the three dogs with her fanning out slightly as Izur dropped himself slightly lower to prepare for her assault. "I'll bet you're a chuunin?" She nodded and he grinned, "I'll enjoy this." Was his only response before disappearing.

This wasn't nearly as good a trick now, except that Katzinsky did the same thing. Tsume looked at Masaru before speaking, sounding skeptical. "He's not using any chakra is he?" Masaru just shook his head as they watched the younger boy take the fight to the older and more experienced girl. She was surprised as well, since many of her attacks required her companions.

Though it looked like one was going to get loose from the brawl with the wolf that was in their midst. It was the only problem in such a good plan, to have Katzinsky fight three dogs had not been planned for since Izur had thought each person only had one companion. It didn't take long for one of the Haimaru triplets to give Katzinsky the slip.

Once that happened Izur knew he didn't stand much of a chance and it was proven when they suddenly used the Tsuuga on him. He hit the ground hard coughing and watching as flecks of blood came out. Shoving himself up he dashed forwards again catching the dog as he was hit by another Tsuuga. He slammed the dog down only to catch a claw to his back. It was his own fault that it had hit there, really if he hadn't moved to try and avoid it would have stopped to rest against his neck.

He froze, momentarily as the pain flooded his system and as he was about to move again his hesitation bit him hard. Literally.

Two sets of teeth sunk into his bow, one on his left arm the other on his shoulder where the armor didn't protect. Plus with a kunai resting against his throat he couldn't really move away. "We should have mentioned that Hana will be taking the Jounin exam in two months." Izur frowned; he should have figured that one on his own but for the moment he was trying to fight back the three places of immense pain he had. Before she could call for him to yield Izur gave a low whistle and the fight his wolf was leading suddenly stopped.

"We yield… you can get your teeth out of me now." As one human and dog let him go but he frowned as he felt the blood run down his arm and then his back. He staggered as he turned around catching support from the wolf that had sauntered next to him. The animal looked slightly tired though he had few cuts. The two that he had been fighting looked worse off and Izur grinned slightly.

Though he said nothing, he knew that he'd definitely found the Inuzuka's weakness. Their dogs were trained to fight humans with their companions; they were only trained in basic arts in fighting other animals and never without their companion or well not in tandem with each other. Katzinsky's superior single combat abilities and speed had shown them all that.

And they'd still managed to hide their full speed and all abilities with ninjutsu and Genjutsu. He looked at Tsume and Masaru, though he could see a slight frown on Masaru's face he knew it wasn't because he had failed to win. Only because of how injured he had become, and none of the team members were medics or knew any medical jutsus.

But it seemed they didn't have to worry too much as two more Inuzuka's strode forwards, apparently they had expected to something bad to happen. Hana turned to him a little gleam seemed to be in her eyes, he figured it was mirth. Though it looked like blood lust since she still had some blood around her mouth. "You'll have to remove your armor and shirt."

He nodded hitting the clasp that held the chest and back pieces of the armor together. Slipping out of it he dropped it on the ground before removing his forearm guards, a moment later his black shirt found its way into the pile as well. He looked like a regular well fit teenager, only he was eleven. The easily defined muscles on arms, check, back, and stomach stook out. He didn't have a six pack, not an easily defined one but he had something close.

Arms had the bicep and triceps muscles showing easily and he noted the way the three females in the area's eyes sharpened on him. Two looked predatory and the third looked mildly surprised. She'd seen him without his shirt once but hadn't been paying any attention. Now the diagonal scar on his back was easily distinguishable as well as the muscles he'd developed in order to be a taijutsu fighter.

He crossed his arms slightly not bother to hide his mild discomfort and annoyance. But before one of the two medics could reach him Hana was standing behind him. Izur's eyes widened slightly in surprise, he hadn't know she was holding back that much. He beat back the surprise as she started to heal his bite wound, well the one on his back.

"Maybe you _will_ have to look into that date." He sighed; females were so bothersome maybe he should become lazy? He moved to shrug the thought away but as he moved his shoulder the Inuzuka smacked his wound and he winced growling at the same time. "Well don't move." He snarled something under his breath at her before going back to his impassive face.

"He could distinctly hear Masaru chuckling and Tsume laughing, plus they were discussing something that he Izur slightly worried. But he shrugged that off as well, this time without moving his shoulders. He did hear one thing come from Tsume though, "Dinner should be interesting."

And boy was it.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Their last day in Konohagakure was spent training harshly in the morning; Izur had pushed himself to the limits despite his three injuries. They'd reopened and he'd just wrapped them back up ignoring them as he forced himself to a third of his chakra to get in the last bit of 'good' training he would have.

He'd stuck the heavier weights back on his body before heading to sleep the night before in order to get used to them. After one the entire team was running all over Konoha restocking all their supplies in weapons, food, and anything they might need. Izur also bought a couple more books since he had the time and a couple of other useful things.

It was at five o'clock that they met with the Hokage again, this time to inform him that they would be leaving at seven in the morning in order to head to Sunagakure. Also the fact that they would probably be back in several weeks with their trader and another one. They'd been stuck their for an hour talking to the Hokage, that includes the time they had to wait for him to finish with whatever he was doing.

They'd eaten a quick dinner at six thirty and been told to wake at three o'clock for training and to go train now until ten.

Overall their last day in Konoha was spent running around too much, though Izur did run into the Inuzuka's once more (to his eternal embarrassment). He was asked why he had reopened his wounds, Hana had noted the wrapping and been severally reprimanded for them. He escaped as soon as was polite and met Naruto training in the tree climbing telling him that he'd be leaving now and probably wouldn't see the other boy for several weeks and then maybe not for several months.

They left with the agreement to fight in the Chuunin exams at least, and if Izur saw him before then to have a fight then.

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**Next Chapter: **To Sunagakure!

**Chapter Info:** The team is leaving Konohagakure (FINALLY) and heading to Suna with their now thoroughly detested fat client. What troubles await them now, and can they possibly learn their techniques before reaching Sunagakure? Plus what punishment awaits if they don't?


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